The B&I cup may not be top priority but it does provide the opportunity to try some new combinations and give up and coming players a chance to shine.
That's the route being taken by the Blues in the trip to Nottingham on Sunday.
Matt Gallagher is the most notable name on the teamsheet after his dual-registration from Sarries and he celebrates his return by being presented with the No. 15 shirt.
On the left wing Ryan Hutler makes his first competitive start Up front Camilo Parilli-Ocampo, Ed Taylor and Jack Nay all start.
Blues: 15. Matt Gallagher 14. Elliot Clements-Hill 13. Rich Lane 12. Ollie Dodge 11. Ryan Hutler 10. Harry Sheppard 9. Lee Dickson (capt) 1. Camilo Parilli-Ocampo 2. George Edgson 3. Ben Cooper 4. Ed Taylor 5. Jordan Onojaife 6. Alex Rae 7. Jack Nay 8. Jarad Williams Reps: Jacob Fields, Sean McCarthy, Alex Penny, Will Carrick-Smith, Ben Adams, Jordan Burns, Michael LeBourgeois
If only to get some of those who spend most of their time lurking in shadows on this site to post something..........
........let us pray this is the last season of this awful tournament......
Created by those in rugby fraternity to fill the gaps created by the reduction of the number of clubs in the Championship (Division 2) who thought a bit of ‘foreign travel’ might appeal to the like of you and me.........
..........sorry guys you failed......the thought of travelling to some clubs many of us vaguely know let alone being able to pronounce the teams or towns names correctly......has not grabbed many of us......
..........now don’t get me wrong I love the supporters who have travelled to GR in this competition, but I still have to meet more than a handful of them who would weep if this competition was scrapped.....
Remember the good old days of one game at home and one away......’understandable’ even for me and more importantly Mrs S.....she knew where I was on a Saturday, I suspect so did your family....
The sooner the Championship returns to fourteen and then sixteen teams the better for all of us......
Compo, I'm with you, let's get the league back to 16 and a cup competition like the pilkinton cup and shield with a chance to play some of the premiership teams. But that's for later, I have a feeling we will do well this year in the B&I cup.
My recollections of Bedford games at Nottingham are we usually outnumber and outshout Nottingham let’s hope we outplay them an interesting team selection........so come on you Blue......
I realise a few clubs treat the B&I as a worthless sideshow, but yesterday we were pretty serious and apart from the loss of concentration 60 mins in, we were well in control overall. Reaching the knockout stages will really put a bit of zip (and cash) in our season.
Perhaps the mathematicians amongst us could do the sums the winning team will I believe get £15,000...... plus all of teams get to keep a percentage of their gate money for home games........
Or playing in a sixteen team division will give us four games in which we get to keep all of the gate money.......
Agreed ......perhaps it’s even to difficult for those in charge.......
Perhaps a return to the ‘keeping it stupid and simple’ might offer a better return for the clubs and players along with giving us the paying public value.......
That said I am 100% behind the team in the current competition.
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