Sudbury 86 Bedford Athletic 31: Blues score 19 tries in final Regional 1 South East home match to keep in third ahead of season-ending round

In their final home game of the season, Sudbury treated a bumper Whittome Field crowd to a try-fest with 19 and 11 conversions sending basement side Bedford Athletic to a crushing 86-31 loss.

Third-placed Sudbury started at pace and scored within two minutes as the Beckett brothers combined in a move up the right wing for Austin to touch down behind the posts, giving Sam Rust the first of his eight conversions.

For the first quarter Bedford matched them score for score as they capitalised on some loose passing as Sudbury committed to playing the wide game. But as the game progressed the Blues showed they were the more organised and the fitter side.

Frazer Beckett made another decisive run to put Shaun Smith over and Dave Brennan secured the bonus point after 25 minutes.

Slack marking left a gap and again Athletic pounced on the opportunity from the restart.

Two more scores before half-time gave Sudbury an 18-point lead ahead of playing down the slope in the second half.

The visitors initially put up a brave show, managing to score two more tries before being Suds ran riot with eight. Brennan completed his hat-trick while there were two each for Austin Beckett, Jake Sumner and Rust, who had a 26-point personal total.

Sudbury will look to confirm third play in Regional 1 South East on April 5, away at third-bottom Amersham & Chiltern.