Friday night lights! And what a jolly way to relaunch the Mobbs Memorial Match which hopefully will stay as a curtain raiser for seasons to come. For stories about Mobbs and the men who fought and often played alongside of him head over to here. 
It was lovely to see old friends both in the crowd and on the pitch. Two sets of brothers were also in the lineup with the Garsides Jake and Alfie in the blue, well more Aquamarine, of Bedford alongside of Nathan Langdon, younger brother of Saints hooker Curtis who also took to the field but not at the same time as his brother. Langdon Minor is on the books for Saints but has been gaining game time at Bedford.
Following in the fleet footsteps of last week's captain James Ramm Saints skipper George Furbank got things off to a flying start with a try when he gathered a Fin Smith chip in the in-goal area. It left a difficult angle for Fin to kick the conversion and he came close but the ball rebounded off the posts.
The next try came from the same combination of players with Furbs crossing under the posts so Fin was able to knock the ball over with ease.
This was a reversal of fortunes for Bedford who the week before had matched Saracens blow for blow and gone into the changing rooms at half time with a 12-7 lead. They fought back this week with a try from newly signed Saintsman Nathan Langdon, the hooker finished off a rolling maul, Will Maisey converted and Saints lead was cut to five.

But not for long as some outrageous play from Tom James and Callum Hunter-Hill who both scooped the ball between their legs -to set Mr Angry, Ollie Sleightholme charging through, a grubber kick later and Fin Smith was over the line.

Josh Kemeny then got in on the action with a bullocking run deep into the 22.Fraser Dingwall finished the move and Smith converted - Saints led by 24-7 at the break.

There were lots of changes of personnel in the second half as combinations were tested and some were rested with thoughts of the opening clash at Bath very much in the mind.

Replacement fly half Charlie Savala crossed the line in the opening minutes for Saints and added the extra for the full seven. Then the unusual sight of a Tuilagi - Fred in the this case - being given a yellow card having not long been on the pitch as a Bedford replacement. Saints were quick to take advantage and birthday boy Tark Haffer sporting a pink flower drawn in his bleached hair by Angus Scott-Young, crossed for a try. Savala was wide for the conversion.

Bedford fought back with two tries from Louis James as the game lost all shape and rhythm with some interesting replacement including Ed Prowse in the second row. There were the usual pre-season games of guess the player - it's so much easier when they have their initials on their shorts, no prizes but the winner gets to feel smug about their superior Saints knowledge!

And so  now to Bath. Good luck to all those going, hope the weather stays fair as not many of the positions are undercover!

Photographs are provided by Claire Jones at RedHat Photography and if you would like to hear or see the Claire and Lis, plus guests, discussing all things Saintly hop over to Ladies Wot Pod on Youtube or Spotify. And for more discussions of Saintly things there's always: SaintsSinners