North Walsham were well beaten by Bedford Blues in their first pre-season friendly of the summer at a wet and windy Scottow.This was Walsham's first run-out under the new coaching structure, headed up by Nick Greenhall, Tim Malone and Dave Smith.

North Walsham were well beaten by Bedford Blues in their first pre-season friendly of the summer at a wet and windy Scottow.

This was Walsham's first run-out under the new coaching structure, headed up by Nick Greenhall, Tim Malone and Dave Smith.

Bedford managed to pull four converted tries ahead of an under-strength Walsham in the first 15 minutes and continued to score at a quick rate throughout the game, played in four

20-minutes quarters.

While most of the play took place in the centre of the field, Walsham's forays into the Bedford 22 were repulsed by a strong defence. However, it was Bedford's speed when spreading the ball out wide that gave them their tally of more than a dozen tries, which resulted in what was almost a cricket score, while Walsham were unable to breach the visitors' try line.

But this game was solely about putting into practice moves learned in training and starting to bed in some potential partnerships for Walsham's first season out of the national leagues in 18 years.

An upbeat Greenhall said: “I'm really impressed with how the forwards performed. We walloped them in the scrum and this is great news for the new season.”