Blues 32 Newport Gwent Dragons 20

Bedford's pre-season build-up continued with a well-deserved victory against Newport Gwent Dragons at Goldington Road.

An evenly balanced affair was decided by an excellent Blues' defensive effort that bodes well for the upcoming assault on National Division One.

A nonedescript opening saw little of note until Karl Dickson burst through the visitors' defence, only to see his good work come to nothing on the next phase.

The Blues' revamped back line showed promise but it was Newport who had the first chance to score, only for James Alridge to push his penalty attempt wide.

A sloppy piece from the missed kick, Dickson failing to touch the ball down behind the goal line, gave Newport a scrum close-in but the home defence averted the danger.

In the fifteenth minute, Pritchard opened the scoring. A poor final pass made little difference as the full-back made the most of a gaping hole and an overlap to cross wide on the left.

The territorial advantage, which had belonged to Newport, remained so but the decisive pass was too often poorly directed.

The Blues looked sharp but a piece of carelessness in the 25th minute resulted in the visitors getting off the mark.

There appeared to be no danger when Ian Vass collected a hopeful kick downfield, however his delayed clearance was charged down by Rory Sidey who won the race to dive on the loose ball.

On the balance of play it was just about deserved and some rustiness can be forgiven in mid-August.

Newport were starting to gain the ascendancy and they took the lead when Grant Webb barged over just after the half hour mark, James Arlidge finally finding the target to add the extras.

The seven-point advantage did not last long. Twelvetrees made a break and flung a superb long pass to Ian Davey who dived over. Pritchard added the extras to level things up at 12-12.

Pritchard added to his tally two minutes before the break, capitalising on a Newport indiscretion to convert a simple penalty from in front of the posts.

Arlidge reciprocated on the stroke of half time to leave the score at 15-15 midway through proceedings.

After the break, five minutes of exchanged kicks eventually saw Gareth Maule sin-binned for holding on following a deft chip to the corner left him stranded.

In the 50th minute, a period of sustained pressure brought its rewards when Ryan Owen scored and Pritchard converted.

A raft of substitutions by Newport initially failed to stem the blue tide until, on the hour, Sidey notched his second of the evening after the home defence had been carved open in midfield.

A Pritchard penalty then extended the lead to five points as the ebb and flow continued.

The game lacked nothing for entertainment, in stark contrast to the majority of pre-season outings, with the pace failing to drop as proceedings dragged on.

With the clock running down and Newport camped in Bedford's half, a levelling score looked a certainty but it did not arrive as some admirable defence ensured that the Blues' preparations, wrapped up by a well-worked try in injury time – Dickson the scorer, Pritchard converting – continued in confidence-boosting style.

BLUES: Pritchard, Davey, Twelvetrees, Burke, Owen, Vass, Dickson, Cecere, Sammons, Boulton, Botha, Hoy, Tupai, Daynes, McKay.
Replacements: Richmond, Brown, Parkin, Gillanders, Howard, Walshe, Davies, Knight, Taylor.

Attendance: 1,475