The Roosters were without a number of players, Noble, Howcroft and Howson had other commitments whilst Sykes and Captain, Mickey Blackley are still recovering from hip and shoulder injuries respectively.

The Roosters looked up for it and focussed from the first whistle and piled the pressure on the Tigers defensive line. The Tigers line held strong for all of 5 minutes, Drake found Adam Peel in space who drew his man and offloaded to Gallucci to crash over the line in the corner. Conversion missed by Ashbridge. 4-0

It didn’t take Roosters long to extend their lead either as Drake sent a kick high into the air, it seemed to take an age to come down but whilst the Bedford players were stood admiring the kick, impressive new recruit James Hodgson collected the ball and raced over the line under the posts. Converted by Ashbridge. 10-0. And they were at it again when Hall looked as though he’d made the wrong decision by stepping into a tackle, he somehow managed to release the ball to Gallucci who again raced over the line. Converted by Ashbridge. 16-0

Bedford seemed frustrated by Roosters’ good start and began to attack with venom. However, every charge was met by an ever willing Roosters player prepared to put their body on the line for the cause. A typical example of this was when Luke Slade put everything he had into a try saving tackle only to be left covered in his own blood from his nose and needing a change of shirt. Roosters defence gave the foundation for their attacking running rugby to come to the forefront, great lines from Dear, Sykes and Wright created space for the backs to shine. The next score came when Throne ran a hard line and was given the ball by Ashbridge to crash through 3 tackles to find the whitewash. Converted by Ashbridge 22-0.

The visitors fought back before the break and scored two unanswered tries, both unconverted. Making the half time score 22-8.

With the second half came more of the same, the Roosters forwards creating space for the backs. After 3 good drives by Newman, Dear and Meadows, Michael Wright found himself at back of the ruck to swing a pass to Peel, another simple try as he simply drew his man and popped the ball off to Gallucci to complete his hatrick. Conversion missed. 26-8.

Bedford came back though but kept getting driven back with big tackles from Dear, Sykes and Throne. The next Roosters try started with Bedford attacking St.Ives’ try line. A superb tackle from Stefan Gallucci, who was having an inspired afternoon as stand-in captain, dislodged the ball from the Bedford attacker. Huge leg drives and decent footwork got the Roosters up to the other end of the pitch, Josh Meadows spotted a gap and scored from close range. Conversion missed. 30-8.

The Roosters good work in defence and attack started to dwindle as fatigue set in. This allowed a spirited Tigers side to take advantage and score 3 unanswered tries, none of them converted. 30-16.
Roosters needed a spark and that’s exactly what they got when Jack Blackley intercepted a pass in his own 22 and ran half the length of the field. Once he was caught by the retreating Tigers he got up for a quick play of the ball, Hodgson picked the ball up and continued the charge only to find Gallucci on his inside. The man of the moment beat two tired Tigers challenges to go over under the posts to take his tally to 4 for the afternoon. Conversion missed. 34-16.

Roosters carried on their great work in defence and a fired up Michael Drake made 4 tackles in a row to stop the Tigers in their tracks. Another outstanding tackle from, man-of-the-match, Aaron Throne led to turnover ball. The Roosters used their set-of-six wisely and kept hold of possession. Good hands in the centres found Peel on the wing with only his opposite winger to beat, it was no contest as he used his power to run over his man and find the line to finish the scoring. Conversion missed. Final Score 38-16

Coach, Paul Ashbridge was delighted to start the season with a win. He said ‘There were a lot of good individual performances out there today but most importantly we played well as a unit. We’ve got a few things to concentrate on at training but the desire and will to win we showed today gives u a strong platform to build on’.