We drove north up the A1 in pouring rain but by the time we reached Goldington Road the evening sun was shining on Bedford’s pitch (which would put some bowling greens I know to shame). We found a place in the stand only for The Good Doctor & Paul Gustard to sit in front of us. Great we though, might get some interesting insight. Unfortunately two elderly gentlemen who were supporting Bedford didn’t like their chat (only talk, no shouting I assure you) so they moved to the Director’s Box. Our loss. What a shame! 

Sarries team was a mixture of strong backs and less experienced forwards with the exciting prospect of Goode and Wigglesworth combining at half back. We expected to see some entertaining back play – if they could get the ball! The Bedford Team was probably as strong as they could put out without featuring any dual registered players and included one Edd Thrower (late of this parish) at full back and one Nick Walshe (even later of this parish) on the bench.  

The referee, J P Doyle didn’t look old enough to be out of short trousers (which was just as well as shorts tend to be de rigueur for referees). 

Sarries won a penalty straight from the kick off. We were a little surprised that Wiggy not Goode stepped up to take the kick but he scored a straightforward penalty and Sarries took the lead 0-3. Play rarely strayed out of the Bedford half. There was lots of promising passing between the backs. More worrying were the first 2 scrums which both resulted in Bedford free kicks (largely because J P was so ssssslllloooooowwww with his c-r-o-u-c-h (long pause) t-o-u-c-h (longer pause) p-a-u-s-e (interminable pause)  e-n-g-a-g-e (by which time Sarries already had and got pinged.)  

After 11 minutes the inevitable happened. For once the ball had ventured into the Sarries’ half but Short made a nice run back along his wing. The ball was recycled and a quick pass from Goode found Barritt who sent it out to Strettle who scored in the corner. Wiggy missed a tricky conversion but Sarries were on their way. 0-8 

More unfathomable activities at the scrum for JP (“he can’t help it he’s only about 12” said little DG) but our forwards were not as dominant as one would have liked. Eventually Chudley picked up the ball in his own half, passed to Handre Schmidt who ran half the length of the field, beat Short in the tackle and slipped the ball inside to good old Edd for a Bedford try under the posts which was duly converted by Dorrian and the Blues were back within a point to much local celebration. 7-8 

There followed probably Bedford’s best period as they tried to capitalise on their score. Their long haired no 13 Taylor looked particularly dangerous with the ball.  But in the end they gave away a penalty which cleared the danger. Once the ball was back where it belonged in the Bedford half both our props combined to carry the ball into the 22. Goode fired the ball out to Powell and on to Barritt who put Short free and he scored in the other corner. Wiggy was no better kicking from wide on the left and missed the conversion but now it was 7-13. 

Barrell was looking dominant catching everything in the air & just about every restart. Thrower produced a couple of divine clearances down the wings (he also skewed a couple into the stands for good measure). Eventually Bedford were awarded a penalty in front of the posts when the Sarries’ forwards went off their feet and Dorrian scored to reduce the lead to 3. 10-13. 

Sarries stepped up the pace. A nice pass off the back of the lineout from Wiggy set Goode up with a chance. He chipped the ball over the approaching Blues defence, collected it himself and scored to the right of the posts. Pure class! Wiggy converted this one and the score was 10-20.  

With half time fast approaching all good Sarries’ fans held their breath as Goode was targeted by 3 Blues defenders. He got the ball away but the late tackle left him lying in a heap with the physio ominously holding his neck. JP didn’t seem to notice and allowed the game to continue. Sarries took a quick penalty and Barritt scored in Strettle’s corner although a fair proportion of the crowd missed it as they were focussing on the injury. Gustard kindly informed the announcer who had scored. Wiggy nailed the conversion this time in his last act of the game but the round of applause which greeted a shaken but not stirred Alex Goode as he got back to his feet was far greater. 10-27 at half time. 

So what had we learned so far? Barritt, Powell & Goode (and Wyles from what I saw on Sunday) have all bulked up hugely. Providing they haven’t compromised their pace it must be like facing a herd of charging bull elephants! Wiggy is not the answer to our kicking problems although he and Goode seemed to have struck up a neat half back partnership and Goode looked very much at home at outside half. JP can’t referee the scrum! And this lot of forwards, particularly the big guys at the front, are going to struggle against top class opposition. 

There were the usual raft of changes at half time. The announcer was equally confused I think however I believe Barrett-with-an-e replaced Wiggy, Reynecke replaced George, Skuse replaced Du Plessis, and Penney replaced Short (Mordt moved to the wing). Bedford brought on club captain Pritchard for Thrower. 

The first 2 line outs were worrying with Reynecke overthrowing the ball. The scrums didn’t improve with the new front row either, looking messy and disrupted. Bedford replaced their prop Seal with Richmond and Melck replaced Saull. The changes seemed to have helped as Sarries won a penalty in front of the posts at the next scrum. This being a friendly Goode found a lovely 5m touch but yet again the lineout forwards couldn’t catch the ball and Bedford cleared the danger only for the Sarries’ backs to run the ball back into the Bedford half again. A nice run from Goode set Strettle up and he passed on to Wray who scored. This time Barritt-with-an-i stepped up to take the kick & proved no more successful than Wiggy (and made us wonder what was up with Goode). Still it was now 10-32 with about 20 minutes left. Bedford brought on Grounds for Gillanders who returned a couple of minutes later for Tones (can’t they make up their mind?). 

Sarries won 2 successive penalties in the Bedford 22. The first was kicked to touch with the predictable result that they lost the lineout however Bedford kindly offended again and this time they went for the scrum, rather bravely in my opinion because they certainly weren’t getting everything their own way in that department. For once the ball came out smoothly but good Bedford defence cleared their lines. 

Our old friend Nick Walshe came on for Chudley and injected a bit of class into the Bedford backs. Locke replaced Clark at hooker, Micans replaced Bedford and Rae replaced Dorrian. The result of all that was another try for Sarries. Barrett-with-an-e took a quick tap penalty and found Adam Powell who beat 2 men and passed the ball inside for Kruis to score close enough to the posts for Barritt-with-an-i to get the conversion. 

Vyvyan’s departure for Hayden Smith was greeted by an enormous cheer to which he responded with a huge grin and raised his arms aloft. Worryingly a long clearance kick from Goode found him limping and he was shortly replaced by Farrell. Perhaps that explained the fact he wasn’t taking the goal kicks. He looked more like the iceman sitting at the side of the pitch with enough ice packs on various parts of his body to start an ice-cream factory! 

Into the last 10 minutes and excellent handling by the Sarries’ backs from wing to wing stretched the Blues defence and found Barritt-with-an-i then Farrell and finally Strettle went over for his 2nd try. This time it was Farrell’s turn to miss the kick. Of more concern was Barritt-with-an-i limping off with what looked like an ankle injury. 10-44. On came Cato to the unaccustomed position of Centre. 

Bedford defended valiantly for the last 10 minutes. JP finally noticed that the Bedford backrow weren’t bothering to stay bound at scrum time and gave Sarries a penalty. Bedford couldn’t escape from their own 22. As the game entered its final minute Bedford almost got their reward. Propelled forward by Walshe they attacked the Sarries’ try line in waves but encouragingly Sarries were in a “you shall not pass” mood. The final play from a tapped penalty deep in the Sarries 22 was eventually cleared to touch and Sarries had won. 

Two Bedford supporters beside us reckoned that we are in better shape than Saints and were impressed with Goode of whom they had heard (which is more that you can say for some well-known pundits). 

All in all it was an entertaining evening. The rain held off and the Premiership Team showed their class. All the best to Bedford blues for the new season – but please don’t break any more of our players! 

Bedford Blues 

Thrower (Pritchard) Schmidt Taylor Bedford (Micans) Dodge Dorrian (Rae) Chudley (Chudley) Ovens (Boulton) Clark (Locke) Seal (Richmond) Howard Tones (Gillanders) Gillanders (Grounds) Harding (Veenendaal) Tupai 

Saracens 

Mordt Short (Penney) Powell Barritt (Cato) Strettle Goode (Farrell) Wigglesworth (Barrett) Parr, George (Reynecke) Du Plessis (Skuse) Vyvyan (Smith) Kruis Barrell Saul (Melck) Wray 

Scorers  

BEDFORD: Try Thrower, Conv Dorrian, Pen Dorrian 

SARACENS: Tries Strettle (2) Short, Goode, Barritt, Wray, Kruis, Conv Wigglesworth (2), Barritt, Pen Wigglesworth 

Scores (Bedford 1st) 

0-3, 0-8, 7-8, 7-13, 10-13, 10-20, 10-27, 10-32, 10-39, 10-44 

Referee J P  Doyle 

Attendance 1,876