Bedford Blues continued their stunning run of form as they produced a superb second-half display to pick up a bonus point victory over Doncaster on Saturday.
On a freezing day at Goldington Road, the Blues recorded their sixth straight win by beating the Yorkshire side 35-7.
Handre Schmidt opened the scoring early on before Doncaster hit back to trail by only six points at the break.
But tries from Will Chudley, Brendan Burke and Gregor Gillanders sealed another fine win.
The result keeps Mike Rayer’s side second in the Championship.
Bedford made six changes for the game as Ollie Dodge, Will Fraser and James Pritchard were missing while Ian Vaas and Sacha Harding returned.
There were doubts prior to kick-off whether the game would go ahead due to temperatures plummeting to below zero overnight.
But the game got underway on time after numerous pitch inspections with Bedford beginning the brighter.
Within four minutes Myles Dorrian gave his side the lead with a well-struck penalty after Doncaster were caught offside.
Bedford then got their first try of the day following a penalty which they kicked to the corner.
The hosts won the line-out before Vaas created the opening with a quick burst allowing Handre Schmidt to follow up his hat trick from last week with another try under the posts.
Leading 10-0, Bedford were controlling the game and attacked with regularity, giving themselves several scoring chances.
Duncan Taylor had the best chance to score following a sublime off-load from Chris Goodman but he ran out of room.
With 20 minutes gone, Doncaster started to play there way back into the game and caused Bedford serious problems in the scrum.
And that was highlighted when the visitors were awarded a penalty try after constant Bedford infringements in the scrum, reducing the deficit to 10-7.
Dorrian kicked a second penalty to restore Bedford’s six point advantage although Doncaster continued to threaten and piled on persistent pressure.
But the home sides defence, as it has done all season, stood firm and held out until the break.
Bedford needed to up their game after the interval and did so by, at times, producing some faultless rugby.
An exquisite kick from Dorrian increased their lead before scoring three more tries.
Substitute Chudley scored Bedford’s second when he charged through the non-existent Doncaster defence, leaving Dorrian with a simple kick.
The try opened the game up with both sides having chances to score as the Yorkshire side looked to get back into the game, which inevitably left chances for Bedford to expose.
And they did just that with little time to go; Burke scoring a brilliantly worked try.
The Blues built up pressure and kept their patience before recycling the ball out wide, where Burke was waiting to finish off a well-executed move.
The full-back then instigated Bedford’s fourth try as straight from the restart he collected the ball and produced a storming run before Gillanders dived over for the bonus point.
Dorrian kicked the extras and Bedford sealed another fine win over difficult opposition.
Blues: Sam Walsh (Laurence Ovens 55), Dan Richmond (c) (Chris Locke 80), Dan Seal (Phil Boulton 55), Mike Howard, Alex Rae (Sean Tomes 55), Gregor Gillanders, Sacha Harding, Chris Goodman (Paul Tupai 65), Darryl Veenendaal (Will Chudley 51), Myles Dorrian, Duncan Taylor, Ian Vaas (Jake Sharp 73), Tom Bedford, Handre Schmidt, Brendan Burke.
Doncaster: Dan Frazier (Lewis Thiede 65), Steve Boden (Steve Lawrie 57), Michael Cusack, Matt Challinor, Dom Parsons, Latu Makaafi (Zack Farivarz 57), Neil Cochrane (c), Ed Jackson, Chris Hallam (Nathan Jones 68), Tristan Roberts (Christian Roberts 50), Matt Williams, PJ Gidlow, Oli Goss, Andy Wright, Dougie Flockhart (Chris Briers 65) Replacement not used: Chris Walker
Referee: Rob Debney
Touch Judges: Matt Carley and David Grasshoff
Attendance: 1,985
Star Blue: Brendan Burke – Influential as he scored one and set-up another
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