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Bedford Blues XV 19 Barbarians 34
The Barbarians required late tries from replacement centre Oliver Viney and flanker Ledua Jope to overcome a spirited Bedford side in the 81st Mobbs Memorial Match at Goldington Road.
Bedford, who took over the fixture from East Midlands, provided new opponents for the Barbarians and their mixture of guest players and emerging talent provided a stern test for a Barbarians side containing seven internationals.
In fact Bedford were only three points adrift until Viney of Preston Grasshoppers showed his paces shortly after he came on as a second half replacement and scored an outstanding individual try.
Fiji international Jope put the issue beyond doubt when he was driven over from a line out late in the game.
The game provided rich entertainment for an appreciative 1,132 crowd and was sympathetically refereed by Tony Spreadbury. Nicola Reynolds of Peterborough made history by becoming the first woman to officiate in the fixture by running touch.
The Barbarians, who were beaten by the East Midlands last year, made sure that they did not make the mistake of fielding another under-powered side but they soon realised that they would be made to work for their victory.
Centre Ollie Dodge, son of former England centre Paul, cut through for a superb individual try and Ben Patston added the conversion to give Bedford the lead within three minutes.
The Barbarians reduced the deficit when former Scotland lock Andrew Hall went over on the overlap for an unconverted try but Bedford hit back strongly.
Northampton Saints full-back Will Harries, guesting for Bedford, was a constant menace to the Barbarians’ defence and it came as no surprise when he sliced through for another try that Patston improved.
That score appeared to galvanise the Barbarians and Gloucester winger Dan Norton, fresh from duty with England’s triumphant Under-20 side, used his pace to score two tries in an eleven minutes period, the first of them improved by Mark Davies.
Davies, who made his Barbarians debut alongside his elder brother Brad, impressed and featured in the build up to a try from United States international centre Paul Emerick which appeared to have settled the issue.
But Will Chudley, Bedford’s 19-year-old scrum-half, took his chance to shine on his senior debut when he cut clean through a non-existent Barbarians defence for an unconverted try that reduced the deficit to just three points.
Te Barbarians used all seven of their replacements, including former Bedford favourite Darragh O’Mahony, but it was Viney who caught the eye with a couple of penetrating runs, one of which took him to the line.
Mark Davies added the conversion and Jope, an early replacement for former Wales flanker Richard Parks, who took a bang to the head, put the seal on victory when the Barbarians, unusually, opted to kick a penalty to touch and then rumbled over from the line-out.
Bedford Blues XV: Will Harries (Northampton Saints); Peter Clarke, Ollie Dodge, Billy Twelvetrees (Leicester Tigers), David Smith (Northampton Saints); Ben Patston, Will Chudley; Andy Brown (Leicester Tigers), Greg Sammons Bruno Fortuna, Mike Howard (North Walsham), Christian Short (Northampton Saints), Marc Comb, Brett Daynes (Northampton Old Scouts), Rory McKay (captain). Replacements used: Brett McNamee (Luton), Adam Parkin (Leicester Tigers), Arthur Brenton, Sam Harrison (Leicester Tigers), Jamie Russell, Brendan Burke, Dan Hemmingway (Leicester Tigers).
Barbarians: Brad Davies (Plymouth Albion); Dan Norton (Gloucester), Paul Emerick (Newport Gwent Dragons and Wales), Marc Stcherbina (Newport Gwent Dragons), Justin Bishop (Doncaster and Ireland); Mark Davies (Gloucester), Tom Slater (Coventry); David Maddocks (Coventry), Sean Crombie (Boroughmuir), Ben Evans (Sale Sharks and Wales), Steve Martin (Neath), Andrew Hall (Newport Gwent Dragons and Scotland), Luke Sherriff (Nottingham – captain), Richard Parks (Newport Gwent Dragons and Wales), Andy Powell (Cardiff Blues). Replacements used: Joe Duffey (Nottingham), Nigel Hall (Nottingham), Andy Kennedy (Banbridge), Ledua Jope (Army and Fiji), Harvey Biljon (Blackheath), Oliver Viney (Preston Grasshoppers), Darragh O’Mahony (Old Albanians and Ireland).
Referee: Mr Tony Spreadbury (Bristol)
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