Yorkshire Carnegie 38 Bedford Blues 14: Carnegie ease through to the Championship Cup semi-final

Chris Elder races through for a try against Bedford Blues. PIC: Varley's Picture Agency

It was a fast start from Carnegie who blitzed the visitors with two tries in the opening 10 minutes.

Both tries came down the left-hand side with Richard Mayhew and Dan Temm the scorers.

Jade Te Rure was pulling the strings from the fly-half position for Carnegie and the Blues simply had no answer for him.

CHEERS: Dam Temm is congratulated on his try by Jacob Umaga. PIC: Varley's Picture Agency

Te Rure’s grubber kick was weighted perfectly for Elijah Niko to run onto and he was able to touch down. Jacob Umaga converted the try to give Carnegie a 19-0 lead inside the 20-minute mark.

Bedford responded well and had Carnegie camped inside their own 22-metre line but a turnover from the Blues led to a line break from the unlikely Andy Foster.

Foster handed the ball off to full-back Chris Elder who stormed away from the chasing defenders and he touched down under the posts. Umaga once again converted the try to give Carnegie a commanding 26-0 half-time lead.

A plethora of substitutions at half-time seemed to be just what was needed from the visitors as they thoroughly dominated the opening stanza of the second half.

Richard Mayhew touches down for Yorkshire Carnegie in their Championship Cup win over Bedford Blues. PIC: Varley's Picture Agency

It took a while but Bedford finally got a reward for all their pressure when a quck ball out to the right wing sliced open Yorkshire’s defence and Ryan Hutler was able to score in the corner.

Carnegie soon regained their 26-point lead through substitute Sam Nixon who had only been on the pitch for a matter of minutes. Umaga added the extras.

Bedford responded almost immediately through Pat Tapley’s try but a last-minute try from Richard Mayhew ended the match at 38-14.

Yorkshire Carnegie director of rugby, Chris Stirling, said: “It was a really good performance against a really good team.

For us to score 38 points against them and hold them to 14 is really pleasing.”

Carnegie: Chris Elder, Harry Davey, Elijah Niko (Andy Forsyth 79), Jacob Umaga, George Watkins, Jade Te Rure, JB Bruzulier (Wolstenholme 60), Nic Mayhew (Tom Hill 60), Dylan Donnellan (Joe Buckle 69), Andy Foster (Sam Nixon 60), Cian Romaine, Will Britton (Fa’atiga Lemalu 64), Lewis Wilson (Trystan Lloyd 61), Richard Mayhew ©, Dan Temm.

Bedford: Dean Adamson, Pat Tapley, Rich Lane, Chris Czekaj, Ryan Hutler, Lewis Robling, James Lennon (Lee Dickson 40), Sean McCarthy (Hayden King 55), Jacob Fields (Ben Cooper 40), Alex Penny (Charlie Clare 40), Ed Taylor (Will Carrick-Smith 44), Mark Flanagan ©, Huw Worthington, Josh Buggea (Oli Curry 40), Jarad Williams. Unused: Joe Green.