Will Maisey: 'I nearly quit the game. It was not the way I wanted to play rugby'

“There’s never been a real offer but it would take a lot to take me away from Bedford…”

Will Maisey’s Whatsapp message flashes up on my phone. When we’d spoken, earlier that day, we’d talked about a lot. But I’d failed to cover a hypothetical move to the PREM or similarly higher league. One surprising element of his response stands out: during his time with Bedford, no other team has tabled an offer to one of the form English tens in the Champ.

Maisey has started pretty much every game for Bedford Blues in the last two seasons: 47 out of 50 games. He has just passed the 1,000 point mark for the club and has amassed that total in five seasons (remember his clever weak-footed drop-goal conversion when the ball fell off the tee last season?). He scores tries, creates space, moves the Blues pack around the park with that trusty left peg of his and runs the prodigious Bedford backline. With so much of their attacking intent coming through him, it’s no surprise the league’s top try scorer operates outside him. And yet, Maisey has flown under the radar of most DoRs. Not that he seems to mind. He wants to play rugby and feels that any Prem or URC option would only have ‘not playing much’ as part of the deal.

“Some people want the full-time gig,” says the fly-half. “They want to be a professional rugby player and all that that entails; I just want to play. I think I would only get that at Bedford.”

His rugby journey is like many others in the Elior Champ, England’s second tier: full of hard work, sliding doors and making the most of opportunities. Having started at Kenilworth RFC, he joined Coventry’s ranks as a youngster but then found an opportunity to join Nottingham. He had a good season at the Bay and was keen to re-sign but due to some bad advice from his agent (“What is the point of agents?” says Maisey, in one of the many tangents we enjoy), he ended up at Ampthill, playing on the wing.

“I nearly quit the game. It was not the way I wanted to play rugby. I was on the wing, or in the centre (which I didn’t mind so much), but it was a bit part role. The way Amphtill were set up didn’t suit me at all and I felt lost. I parted ways with that agent and then, out of the blue, I had a message from Rowland Winter, who I think was moving back to Cov from Cambridge: he wanted a coffee. We spoke and he said he’d signed Tony Fenner as the first-choice ten but wanted to give him some competition. And that seemed a logical move to me: back home, trying to get some game time.”

“Coventry as a club is special to me. I knew how good the place was, how brilliant the supporters were. It turned out to be a fantastic decision. I had another three or four seasons there, got them back into the Champ, stayed up, and played around 100 games for them alongside some superb players. It was a lot of fun watching Sammy Tuitupou put hits in like he did!”

“I also loved being coached by Nick Walshe. He kinda changed the way I looked at the game. He would phone me on a Sunday night (which I didn’t initially love) and we’d talk in detail about the game we’d played on the Saturday. He showed me how analysis can reveal opportunities and how I needed to appreciate the full picture. It was huge for me as a player and a person.”

“He was a raw talent,” says Walshe, the former Bath and England scrum half, as I catch up with him about Maisey. “But I remember thinking that he had huge potential. Yes, I remember those Sunday night conversations! We would talk about every area of the game and he’d listen and learn. He was a joy to work with.”

Maisey was looking forward to a positive future with the West Midlands outfit when fate played a hand. Rowland and Coventry were weighing up their options at 10 and with three players already contracted, Will Maisey’s renewal, while not out of the question, was not straightforward. They were looking at how it would work itself out when Maisey recognised an injury crisis at his future club.

“We weren’t going particularly well, I remember; we’d lost against Ampthill and then visited Goldington Road and lost there, too. But it was during that game that Bedford fly-half Sam Leeming suffered a head injury and with Will Hooley already out with concussion, I took a chance. I’d heard so many good things about the club but it was still a gamble. I just didn’t realise how big a gamble it would turn out to be…”

With nothing to lose, mid-season, Maisey asked if Bedford would talk to him. And they did. He joined up with the Blues and hopped on the bus to Newcastle and played against the champions elect at Kingston Park. He immediately felt the pull of the club and the way Mike Rayer was managing the team; he was happy. The only problem was the date: March 2020. The world was about to turn upside down.

“An absolute killer blow” from @BedfordBluesRFC💪

Will Maisey finishes off a fantastic team score as the Blues rack up an astounding 66 points in this win over @AmpthillRufc😮‍💨

Watch @Champrugby LIVE at https://t.co/kjOayYQJn9🔗 pic.twitter.com/gMDa5i8IUR

— Clubber Rugby (@clubberrugby) October 25, 2025

In sport, many choices made on instinct or an innate feeling prove to be the best that could have been made. And so it proved with Bedford and Will Maisey. As the rugby world closed down, amidst Covid’s tightening grip, the word ‘furlough’ became commonplace. The scheme that allowed employees to remain employed while being unable to work, funded in most part initially by the government, extended its reach to Bedford Blues. The club’s finance team pored over the spreadsheets and tried to make sure everyone was accounted for, but one name jumped out.

Because of the timing of his move, just weeks before the world shut down, Will Maisey was not covered by the scheme. The choice for the club was clear: let the player go or find the money from somewhere to keep him on, with two concurrent hopes: that rugby would restart again and Maisey would be worth the investment. Mike Rayer was consulted. The answer did not take long and it proved as good a gut decision from the club’s legendary Director of Rugby as any in his impressive tenure.

“It’s funny looking back on that moment,” says Maisey. “The club could have been ruthless. Perhaps, it should have been. Somehow, Mikey (Rayer) saw what would happen, how it would all play out. It’s kinda his genius.”

“The club was very transparent throughout the whole Covid process. But, of course, I was a little reluctant to ask where I stood. I found out I didn’t meet the furlough threshold just after I’d bought a new house in Milton Keynes. Gareth Alred (the club’s CEO) spoke to me and was very honest. He explained the situation but concluded by saying the club had decided to support me until rugby restarted or a new club took me on. In those circumstances, that was massive. I can’t begin to say how much that meant to me at the time. Maybe, it’s the thing that continues to spur me on each week. In a time when it would have been so easy to cut me off, Bedford held on.”

“The season that followed was weird. We rotated squads heavily and there weren’t many games but in a way, it brought us all closer. We played against the British & Irish Lions of Saracens! And training was always such a beacon of hope in the weeks of uncertainty. And there weren’t big numbers, sometimes only 5 v 5 in training but it kinda worked. And perhaps, looking back, it acted as a springboard for what we’ve done since. So much of that team bled into subsequent squads. The ethos of the squad has remained. It was a weirdly special time.”

“A little bit of magic in the Bedford back line.” 🗣️

Will Maisey with the box-office delayed pass to send Lucas Titherington over for the try! pic.twitter.com/bYXqy7wlga

— Elior Champ Rugby (@Champrugby) April 7, 2026

In the following seasons, the Blues, with Maisey’s fingers wrapped around the marionette’s strings, have gotten consistently better: 5th, 4th, 4th and 2nd place league finishes. They currently sit in 2nd with two games to go in the 2025/26 season: Chinnor at Goldington Road on 2nd May and then, a week later, a potential 1st v 2nd match-up v Trailfinders away. Coventry and Worcester are five and eight points behind them, respectively but have each other to play. A home playoff game has been assured but a home semi-final (which 2nd would guarantee) would be huge for the club.

Last season was as good a season as many Blues fans can remember. In the last seven undefeated games of the season, Blues averaged 54 points a game and beat champions Ealing at Vallis Way. The current season has continued in a similar vein, culminating in that bonus point win away at Sixways. Why is it so good?

“I think Mike and his team just have a really good handle on how to make things enjoyable. We went to Jersey preseason last year and it was just the funniest, most incredible time I’ve had with teammates. I can’t tell you some of the things that went on but as far as bonding and bringing people together, it was extraordinary. We’ve kept a lot of that squad but added to it in clever ways: bringing back Tui Uru and Ryan Hutler (players who know what the Blues is about), adding in the likes of George Worth. The Saints lads have been phenomenal as well and totally part of our squad.”

“In training, we don’t overdo it. Mike knows most of us work during the week and we are never beasted for the sake of it. And we know each other so well. In the last few years, I think I must have started about 85 per cent of my games with Alex Day at 9. There are partnerships across the park. And when you play with each other that much, things just start to happen without thinking. That’s what happened at Worcester. We all knew what we were doing and it didn’t really give them a chance.”

Maisey will steer Bedford through what will no doubt be a thrilling playoff campaign in May, hoping that they can continue to create rugby memories. Rumour has it, he has also signed a new contract with Bedford which will keep him going at Goldington Road for a little while yet.

“I love playing,” concludes Maisey, “And I get to do that at Bedford with some very good mates. It’s so enjoyable. I don’t think I’d be happy if I wasn’t taking to the field in the twilight of my career.”

Maisey is 34 in December but seems to be operating at the peak of his powers. He uses the word twilight but, just like his DoR knows whom to hang on to during a worldwide crisis, Rayer knows who can go ‘all day’. You get the feeling Will Maisey and Bedford Blues are not finished yet.