Swifts get their first win!

Bedford Swifts have found themselves in between a rock and a hard place recently. They are rooted to the bottom of Midlands 4 East South and desperate for a win. Their recent performances have been getting better and in this fixture they came away with a vital win!

The match started and swifts looked good in the first 10 minutes. They were composed when having the ball in hand and ferocious in defence. Swifts went 5-0 down after a break from Sileby, but Swifts replied with a great attacking move which saw James Harley touch down. Paul Robson slotted the extras. Sileby were using their dominant scrum well and were marching forwards on the Swifts 5 metre line and their scrum half broke away to score under the posts. 12-7 to Sileby.

The Swifts lads then looked to strike back, and they did through Jamie Goss. Paul Robson floated a cross field kick over to the wide men, who gathered it well. Support was there and the ball went through the hands. Simon Llewelyn, Pete Tyers and Luke Adde all made ground and Jamie Goss finished off the move well. Paul Robson missed the conversion. 12-12.

The first half ended this way, and Swifts were playing the better Rugby.

The second half started and Sileby pounched early to get some opportunist tries. They carved up the Swifts backline and scored two tries. Swifts needed to respond and they did.

Charlie Palmer made an outstanding run from deep inside his own half. He managed to get lots of territory for the Swifts, and when he was tackled on the Sileby 22, Peter Tyers popped up to get the ball. He still had lots of work to do, and his natural pace took him past the last man and he dotted down. Paul Robson kicked the extras.

Pete Tyers popped up again to score a great try. Paul Robson floated a cross field kick once again and the Sileby winger couldn't deal with it. The bounce was perfect for the on coming Tyers, who raced through a non existent backline to score under the posts. Paul Robson slotted the extras.

Then came the drama of the referee not calculating the score correctly. Sileby seemed to think they were one up, but after a short break the referee realised his mistake, saying Swifts were 1 up. Swifts had to play out the last few minutes with the Sileby team having the ball. Some excellent tackling forced the ball to come loose and the ball was booted into touch. Swifts had done it! They had won their first match by a point.

The scrum today was excellent. The front row were working hard to keep the scrum from collapsing. Second Row partners Luke Adde and Andrew Stocks were magnificent in the line out, winning clean ball to keep the team moving forward. The backrow of the Rowling brothers and Jamie Goss gave the team much needed go forward with some great carries.

Next week sees the Swifts lads travel to Stamford College Old boys in the hope they can continue their winning ways.