ALL GOLDS DOWNED IN TRY-FEST

Christopher Wilson at Lockleaze Sports Centre

BRISTOL ALL GOLDS 34 – 52 BEDFORD TIGERS

Bristol All Golds came up short in a game that ebbed and flow and saw the sides score 15 tries between them.

After going ahead thanks to a try by Mackenzie Cummings, the All Golds were hit by  three quick tries as the Tigers roared into a 22-4 lead. However, the All Golds were level by the break thanks to Jack Uren, Callum Merrett and Cummings. It was nip and tuck in the third quarter with first the All Golds through an interception try from Merrett and then the Tigers edging back in front, Jacob Purcell brought the scores level again before a freak bounce of the ball allowed the Tigers full back to race the length of the field to score the try that gave his side a winning lead. Two more scores for the visitors pushed their score over the half century and sunk the All Golds.

A great game for the spectators with tries, exciting play, and big tackles in a flowing end-to-end contest where the advantage swung from one team to the other and back again. Sadly, it leaves the All Golds looking for their first win of the season.

On a bright and breezy day, the Bristol All Golds and Bedford Tigers produced a game to match the conditions. The crowd enjoyed produced 15 tries as both sides built and lost leads. Ultimately, it was the Tigers who were on top when the final whistle brought an excellent game to a conclusion.

With a strong side at their disposal, the All Golds hoped that they could trouble their visitors who finished fourth last season and have made plain their ambitions to break the stranglehold on the competition of the three London sides.

It was the Tigers who seized the early initiative in what was their first game of the season and forced the All Golds into some defending. However, they survived and fashioned a chance with their first visit to the Bedford 20-metre area, but Henry Symons ignored his winger and was stopped inches short of the line.

 Almost immediately, Symons created another opportunity and this time he passed for Mackenzie Cummings to score the opening try. Callum Merrett was off target with the boot, but the lead didn’t last long.

 The All Golds lost possession early in the count and the Tigers created space out wide for Sam Elrick to acrobatically touch down in the corner. The scores stayed at 4-4 as Bailey Thomas was unable to convert.

Bedford now began to take control and hit the All Golds with three tries in a blistering spell of running rugby league.

Loose forward Elliott Holton powered over before Elrick collected a pinpoint kick for another well-crafted and well-taken score. Five minutes later Elliott Hutchings broke a tackle and sauntered through a gap and round the helpless Adam Rusling to score and with all three conversions the Tigers were running away with it with a 22-4 lead.

However, everything changed in the final ten minutes of the half as Jack Uren scored from dummy half catching the defence sleeping as he ran in untouched from ten metres out. Callum Merrett added the goal and was then on hand to finish an excellent break by Dave Weetman that took him straight through the middle of the defence.

Just before the break Symons again sent Cummings in at the corner, Merrett nailing the sideline kick. As the referee called for the half-time break the scores were locked at 22-22 and there was everything to play for. 

The second period soon picked up the pace of the first and the All Golds were first to profit as Merrett saw a long pass by Thomas coming and picked it off to run 70 metres to the posts, showing no signs of the hamstring injury that caused him to leave the field last week.

Bedford hit back, profiting from Kieran Jackson’s absence for ten minutes following a high tackle. Elrick found space out wide and cut back towards the posts to touch down Thomas tied the scores at 28-28.

Bedford then edged ahead as Kayne Chan-Kitchener spotted lazy markers and raced in from dummy half for a converted try. Five minutes later, Chan-Kitchener was shown a yellow card for a late tackle on Merrett that badly winded the All Golds’ scrum half.

However, Merrett recovered and was able to send Jacob Purcell over for a try to level matters at 34-34 from the resulting field position. 

The All Golds pressed for the lead again. Joe Capener had a try ruled out after he was adjudged offside as he collected Merrett’s pinpoint kick to the corner, but it was another kick from the All Golds that decided the game but not in the way they would have liked.

With ten minutes to go, a swirling bomb was fumbled by Chan-Kitchener, but crucially the ball went backwards to Hutchings who skirted the defence and raced down the touchline for a sensational individual effort. Thomas added the goal from in front and the Tigers never looked back

Garin Nicholls powered through the heart of the defence two minutes later and then Jake Tilford went over from dummy half, Thomas adding the conversion to bring the curtain down on a superbly entertaining 80 minutes.

On this showing the Tigers will be confident of a top four finish while the All Golds will be looking to secure their first win of the season over the Eastern Rhinos in Colchester next week.  

ALL GOLDS: Adam Rusling; Mackenzie Cummings, Lewis Harris, Henry Symons, Joe Capener; Sam Gilder, Callum Merrett; Angus Parkin, Jack Uren, Eric Davidson; Jamie Jenkins, Tega Rume-Tabiowo; David Weetman. INTERCHANGE: Kieran Jackson, Carl Thompson, Jacob Purcell, Adam Turner. 18^th player: Rob Davies.

Scorers:

Tries: Cummings (10, 36), Uren (30), Merrett (32, 43), Purcell (59)

Goals: Merrett 5 from 6.

TIGERS: Elliott Hutchings; Samuele Elrick, Luke Wilson, Kayne Chan-Kitchener, Josh Hudson-Lett; Bailey Thomas, Josh Spearing; Lewis Swindells, Jake Tilford, Simone Elrick; Santino Decaro, Ed Brown; Elliott Holton. INTERCHANGE: James Little, Leunbou Bardyel Wells, Garin Nicholls, Max Nissinen-Le.

Scorers:

Tries: Samuele Elrick (13, 22, 50), Holton (16), Hutchings (25, 71), Chan-Kitchener (53), Nicholls (73), Tilford (77)

Goals: Thomas 8 from 9.

Scoring Sequence: 4-0, 4-4, 4-10, 4-16, 4-22, 10-22, 16-22, 22-22, (HT), 28-22, 28-28, 28-34, 34-34, 34-40, 34-46, 34-52, (FT)

Referee: Kristoff Young

Penalties: All Golds 4-10 Tigers

Sin Bin: Jackson (All Golds) 49 – Interference; Chan-Kitchener (Tigers) 57 – late tackle.

Thatchers Cider All Golds Player of the Match for the second match in a row, was Welsh Student International Jacob Purcell who made an impact from the bench, scoring a well-worked try to bring the All Golds level with a quarter of the game to go. His powerful running on the edge caused the Tigers defence plenty of anxious moments.