The Tigers went into half-time with a 20 point lead through four different try scorers.

The first try came from Carl Siudak, who, after steady build-up play powered through the North Herts defensive line.

Jamie Goss then scored a near-identical try to further the lead. Rob Ashton converted both tries. 0-12.

The third Bedford scorer was Ed Strand after collecting the ball 15 metres from the Crusaders try-line, on a repeat set, broke through a tiring North Herts defence.

The Tigers then went down to 12 men after Jamie Goss was sin-binned. However, this didn’t affect the Tigers performance, with Will Presland scoring the try of the game.

A man down, the Tigers scored a well-worked try using a set play; this caused an overlap and allowed Presland to score in the right-hand edge.

Half Time: North Herts Crusaders 0 Bedford Tigers 20.

Bedford started the second half the brighter of the two teams as they pushed further ahead with Sam Richbell scoring two tries.

His first came from more swift hands out the back. The second was a trademark Richbell try, as he crashed over under the posts. Ashton converted both tries. 0-32.

Tigers then allowed the Crusaders back into the match with two tries of their own. The tries came from silly mistakes and needless penalties.

After a dropped catch from the kick-off the Crusaders crossed through Lewis Copsey, and then again through Kyle Hughes after a couple of repeat sets. Will Clifford converted both tries.

North Herts 12 Bedford Tigers 32.

Bedford Tigers then closed the game out through Will Preslands second of the afternoon after busting through a couple of tacklers, to score on the left hand edge this time.

Ashton missed the resulting conversion but the game was won.

Ron Rose made his Tigers 1st team debut after replacing Sam Richbell with five minutes remaining, and making a couple of dangerous runs.

Full Time: North Herts Crusaders 12 Bedford Tigers 36.

Squads:

North Herts: Bailey Burton, Ash Mitchell, Jared Scott, Simon Jarvis, Morgan Davies, Will Clifford, Ollie Adams, Oscar Robinson, Harry Cartwright, Robin French, Mike Gray, Tom Wilcox, Kyle Hughes, Tony Williams, Dan Holland, Shame Dimmock, Ruiri Shanahan, Lewis Copsey.

Bedford Tigers: Josh Spearing, Yousef Richards, William Presland, Ed Strand, Will Norford, Lee Walker, Paul Ryder, Carl Siudak, Alex Lovell, Sam Richbell, Lewis McCracken, Paul Robson, Rob Ashton, Sean Tribbeck, Matt Jones, Rob Rose, Jordan Marshall, Jamie Goss.