Coventry Dragons travelled to Bedford on Sunday to face the Tigers in a rematch of last seasons Harry Jepson Cup quarter final where the Tigers won 31 - 24.

The Dragons were determined not to let the result repeat itself and travelled with a strong team however due to players being unavailable only had three on the bench. The Bedford side had a full complement of new and returning players which was a luxury given the incredibly hot conditions.

The Dragons got off to a flying start in the game forcing an error from Bedford's first set of six and immediately took full advantage with Adam Barnett side stepping his way over the line. In the opening period the Dragons continued to dominate and crossed twice more with a good inside line from Joe Gregory and an impressive 80m kick return from full back Tobias Rochester-Bremmer. At the 15 minute mark the Dragons found themselves leading 16 - 0.

Bedford finally got some decent field position following a kick off that bounced into touch which resulted in three repeat sets due to some ill discipline from the Dragons allowing Bedford to slip a pass out wide to take the score to 16 - 4.

An error from the kick off once again allowed the Dragons to have some decent field position when Scott Clendenning-Fenton spotted a gap in the line to score his first try of the season. Unfortunately for a second time the Dragons were unable to field the kick off which allowed Bedford Tigers field position to cross for their second try of the game taking the score to 20 - 10

The Dragons then finished the first half the strongest with two further trys from Harry Marks and set piece play from the back of the scrum which was finished by Tobias Rochester Bremmer to claim his second of the game. Half time score 28 - 10.

The Dragons once again started strongly in the second half and a 50m break from Harry Marks allowed him to cross for his 2nd try of the game before the heat and lack of replacements started to show for the Dragons. A series of errors and penalties cost the Dragons 3 unanswered trys before a water break on the 60 minute mark with the score at 36 - 26.

Fortunately all signs of a comeback for Bedford ended when Harry Kaufman broke the line before slipping a pass for Mark Hyslop to score meaning that at this point the Tigers would need to score 3 further trys to win the game. However credit to the Tigers for continuing to pressure the Dragons defence and they got their reward as they crossed the line in the final minutes of the game taking the score to 40 - 32.

Score
Coventry Dragons 40 – 32 Bedford Tigers
Trys
Coventry Dragons 8 – 6 Loughborough University
Conversions
Coventry Dragons 4 – 4 Bedford Tigers

MOM - Tobias Rochester-Bremmer (Pictured) Solid last line of defence at full back an demonstrated lighting quick pace to score his two trys.