Championship: Jersey Reds 14-9 Bedford Blues

Jersey Reds have taken nine points from their opening two Championship matches

Jersey Reds continued their impressive start to the Championship season with a hard-fought win over Bedford Blues at St Peter.

Hooker Joe Buckle crashed over from a maul to help the hosts to an 11-6 half-time lead.

Brendan Cope's penalty looked to have sealed the win, but late Bedford pressure set up a nervy ending.

The Reds held on though and have won both their fixtures so far, while Bedford have lost their two.

The visitors, skippered by Jersey-born Michael Le Bourgeois against his old club, were ahead early on through Elliot Clement-Hill's penalty, but the home side hit back straight away when Buckle was driven over from a line-out move.

Both sides traded kicks in a competitive first-half, with Bedford desperate to end their poor run against the islanders and bounce back from the loss to Cornish Pirates a week earlier.

It took 35 minutes of the second half for the first score of the period, with Cope's penalty stretching the Jersey lead to 14-6 and putting his side more than a converted try in front.

With time starting to run out, Jake Sharp's penalty reduced the arrears to five points and Bedford sensed a last-gasp win might be on.

But a series of late penalties and scrums on the five metre line eventually came to nothing, despite appeals for a try, as Jersey's defence stood strong to see out the game and restrict their opponents to a losing bonus-point.

Jersey: Cuthbert; Watkins, King, Robling, Adair; Cope, Hardy; Thomas, Buckle, Kerrod, Phillips, McKern, Argyle, Freeman (capt), Haining.

Replacements: Selway, McCarthy, Tampin, Kolo'ofa'i, Doyle, Fisilau, Davies.

Bedford: Gallagher; Clement-Hill, Farrell, Le Bourgeois (capt), Adamson; Dorrian, Burns; Thompson-Stringer, Fields, Spelman, Carrick-Smith, Taylor, Hill, Buggea, Adams

Replacements: Edgson, Culverhouse, Judge, Howard, James, Sharp, Perkins

Attendance: 1,630

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