CROSS Keys’ faint hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages of the British and Irish Cup ended after they were taken apart by a rampant Bedford.

The Gwent side had defeated the Blues 23-22 in the corresponding fixture at Goldington Road in October in a thriller.

But there was to be no repeat with Mike Rayer’s men racking up a comprehensive six-try bonus point victory at Pandy Park.

The hosts had contained a number of young players from the Newport Gwent Dragons but they had little or no impact as they were blown away by a Blues side who had only won one of their previous six encounters.

Keys cause wasn’t helped when their star outside half Angus O’Brien had to withdraw just before the game after failing to recover in time after sustaining a hip injury in the 30-21 defeat to Cornish Pirates last week.

It meant Greg Woods’ side had to play scrum half Luc Jones at No 10.

In the end that had little to do with the final outcome in a decidedly one-sided affair the 2012 finalists will want to quickly forget.

Things had started well for Keys as they put the visitors under severe pressure, scrum half James Leadbeater missing an early penalty awarded after the visitors had infringed at the scrum.

Bedford could have taken the lead when some fine play by wing Pat Tapley saw him hack ahead, only to be just denied as the ball bounced over the try-line before he could touch down.

It was the Welsh side who dominated the opening exchanges with great defence keeping them out.

They were rewarded when Leadbeater slotted over an easy penalty to make it 3-0 after a quarter of an hour.

Their lead was short-lived however when captain and full back James Pritchard cancelled it out with one of his own.

The Blues took the lead with a converted try when lock Harry Wells powered through a huge gap to score under the posts.

Things didn’t get any better for Keys when their centre Jack Dixon was yellow carded for holding back a player as Bedford went in search of another try.

Skipper Pritchard extended his side’s lead to 13-3 after 31 minutes when he slotted over his second penalty.

The visitors got away with a crooked throw at the lineout near halfway and the ball was spread to Tapley who scored a glorious try as they made the most of their one-man advantage, Pritchard’s conversion making it 20-3.

Bedford started to run riot, Tapley going over for his second try, beautifully converted by Pritchard from near the touchline as they went into half time with a 27-3 lead.

The second half was a bit of a non-event.

Bedford dominated but the match remained scoreless until 15 minutes from time.

That was when the visitors’ number eight Hayden Thompson-Stringer crossed for a converted try from a driving lineout with Keys’ openside flanker and captain Scott Matthews and replacement hooker Darren Hughes in the sin bin.

They got a penalty try soon after before Jack Maynard scored a consolation try for Keys which he also converted as the hosts refused to just buckle.

With two minutes left on the clock replacement back rower Paul Tupai to complete the rout with Bedford’s sixth converted try.

Keys team manager Mark Prangell said: “It was a hugely disappointing day for us but we had several young players, some from the Newport Gwent Dragons’ academy, who will only learn from this experience.”

Cross Keys: J Cordy-Redden (J Maynard 41), A Hewitt, B Nightingale, Jack Dixon 6 (P Uhi 67) , L Lewis, Luc Jones, J Leadbeater, L Garrett (R Cornock 52), H Gustafson (D Hughes 52), A Jefferies (D Young 52), D Hodge, J Davies (T Lampard 41), O Griffiths, S Matthews (capt), A Powell(J Skinner 53).

Replacement: T Lampard.

Cross Keys scorers: Tries – Maynard (74), Conversions – Maynard (74), Penalties – Leadbeater (15).

Bedford: J Pritchard (capt), P Tapley, M Le Bourgeois (J Wigglesworth 65) (D Veenendaal 66) , H Staff, D Adamson, J Sharp, P White, T Williams (C Parilli-Ocampo 53), TJ Harris (C Clare 53), J Currie (P Boulton 64), H Wells, B Gulliver (M Howard 64), J Blanchet (P Tupai 41), J Buggea, H Thompson-Stringer.

Bedford scorers: Tries – Wells (26), Tapley (38) (40), H Thompson-Stringer (65), Penalty (72), Tupai (78), Conversions – Pritchard (26), (38), (40) (65), Jake Sharp (72), (78), Penalties – Pritchard (20), (31).

Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)