Bedford Blues soared clear with four tries in the second half as they completed a third straight maximum point victory in Champ Rugby with a 45-21 triumph over Hartpury on Halloween at Goldington Road.

The ever-present Dean Adamson scored another hat trick, with Ben Dufficy, Craig Wright, Louis James and Rory Ward scoring the others in a relative game of two halves that saw Bedford stalwarts make the difference coming off the bench.

Following a league-wide week off in Champ Rugby, the Blues were back in action on home turf, hoping not to return to the spooky start that left them bottom of the division after three rounds.

Bonus point victories against Cornish Pirates and Nottingham stopped the rot, helping Bedford begin Saturday in ninth whilst opponents, Hartpury have also started slowly in the face of a tough tranche of opening fixtures, starting the day in 13th.

And the recent form remained, as the Blues battled back from a soporific first half to soar clear to a convincing victory, scoring seven tries in the process.

All change

The most notable change of many in the starting line-up was a first Champ Rugby start for new Blues fly-half Ben Dufficy, replacing Will Maisey who dropped to the bench.

George Worth also started the day at full back in place of Louis James, while the likes of Fred Tuilagi and Oisin Heffernan also found themselves amongst the replacements as Mike Rayer rang the changes.

And it was two of those new starters who would feature heavily as Bedford scored the game’s first try.

After some positive early moments that included an incisive line break from Lucas Titherington, the Blues were first on the board as some excellent work from George Worth under a steep kick helped Bedford on their way.

It was his offload that allowed the impressive Alex Day to break clear, sharing a pair of passes with Marcus Kershaw before the Blues captain fed Dufficy to sprint in under the posts.

Michael Le Bourgeois, on kicking duties in Maisey’s first half absence, added the simple extras.

Hartpury hit back after 14 minutes, thanks in large to a moment of magic from their own talismanic fly half, Harry Bazalgette.

The visitors were gifted territory thanks to a stray pass from Le Bourgeois, and while Bazalgette’s first cute kick for Josiah Edwards-Giraud didn’t pay dividends, his second certainly did.

A chip out wide found the vacant Charlie Powell on the right wing, who ran in an equally simple score, converted by Bazalgette himself to level the scores at 7-7.

As the first half continued, the Blues’ penalty count continued to rise – they conceded seven in the first 40 minutes – and their latest penalty concession after 23 minutes led to Hartpury’s second try.

Harry Short was the one to touch down on the end of a rolling maul.

The consistent interruptions led to a flat atmosphere inside Goldington Road, but the Blues did enjoy a period of possession in the final ten minutes of the half, eventually leading to a pair of tries that would see them lead at the break.

Craig Wright was the man to score the second try, bundling over following a quick penalty, before Champ Rugby’s record try scorer, Dean Adamson scored the first of an eventual hat trick.

Both conversions were missed from the boot of Le Bourgeois leaving Bedford Blues 17-14 ahead at half-time.

Blues replacements make the difference

From the off in the second half, the referee’s whistle continued to be prevalent, and the home side were not helped by a pair of Blues knock ons that gave Hartpury a lot of the early territory.

It wasn’t long before the big guns from Bedford’s bench were called into action with Maisey, Tuilagi and Heffernan entering the fray, and their introductions immediately breathed new life into the Blues.

Maisey was involved in the build up to Bedford’s fourth try, feeding Marcus Kershaw who expertly offloaded to Adamson who cut inside to dive in his second of the afternoon.

Another one of the second half introductions was Louis James, and he scored the fifth thanks to more good work from Titherington as Bedford began to open up a sizable advantage, leading 31-14 thanks to Maisey’s second conversion.

With the clock ticking towards the final ten minutes, the ball found itself almost exclusively in Hartpury territory, and the Blues were slowly shifting through the gears, with their sixth try arriving courtesy of Rory Ward.

The game was put to bed after 74 minutes with another superb break down the left wing, ending with the indomitable Dean Adamson completing another hat trick in Blues colours.

Keir Clark scored a consolation try for the visitors in the penultimate minute, but it didn’t detract from a much-improved second half for Bedford Blues, who saw out what was in the end a comfortable 45-21 triumph.

The win takes the Blues up to seventh, but still the division’s protagonists continue to dominate at the top.

Worcester Warriors are six wins from six after a 31-19 victory over Blackheath on Friday night (30 October), while Ealing are in second thanks to Saturday’s 45-26 win over Doncaster.

Coventry are third after a routine home win against Ampthill, while Richmond beat Caldy in Saturday’s other fixture. Chinnor were also narrow victors over Nottingham on Friday night.

Rotherham host Cornish Pirates in the 4pm Sunday kick off.

Bedford Blues are back on the road next Saturday (7 November), travelling to Blackheath before another edition of the Friday night lights the following weekend, as Doncaster Knights come to town.