Hartpury RFC vs Worcester (H) - Match Report - 28-34

Hartpury RFC were beaten 34-28 by 14-man Worcester Warriors on Saturday evening at the 4ED Stadium.

Worcester’s eight-minute flurry of three tries deep in the second half was enough to see off Hartpury and remain at the top of the CHAMP Rugby table.

Hartpury opened the scoring after five minutes as they broke down the right wing; winger Charlie Powell managed to pop an offload off the ground, allowing full-back Brad Denty to dive over.

The hosts doubled their try tally controversially in the 18th minute as referee Ben Wood accidentally got in the way of scrum-half Will Lane, who tried to pick and pass from the base of a ruck, and moments later Pury intercepted; winger Ollie Holliday ran most of the length, the ball was recycled, and Powell went over in the right corner.

Warriors put themselves on the board five minutes later through number eight James Cherry. He picked from the back of a lineout drive and dotted over in the far left corner. 

On the half-hour mark, the game changed as Worcester’s outside centre Siva Nualango was shown a red card for kicking Pury replacement back-row Noah Williams after Williams illegally cleared him out and was sent to the bin himself.

So with minutes left of the first half, it was 14v14, but Pury would return to their full complement after the half-time break, whereas Warriors would not.

From the penalty that followed, fly-half Harry Bazalgette kicked through the posts to extend the lead to 10.

Worcester, whilst still having an even number of players, scored minutes before half-time as Tim Anstee ran a smashing line that powered through Pury’s defence. The try was converted by fly-half Will Reed to reduce the deficit to three.

Bazalgette kicked another penalty on the stroke of half-time to give Pury an 18-12 lead at the interval.

Pury started the second half in fine fashion, making the most of their man advantage with outside centre Robbie Smith going over to the left of the posts after the ball was played out following a successful scrum.

On the hour mark, the momentum started shifting again, this time in favour of the visitors, and shortly afterwards, replacement number eight Owain Evans drove over from close range, with the try converted by Reed, the lead was back down to six points.

Four minutes after scoring their first of the half, Warriors scored again, this time through full-back Louis Brown in the left corner, and Pury were reduced to 14 men again as replacement prop Harry Wright was sent to the bin.

Eight minutes on from their first try of the half, Worcester scored their third, putting them in the lead as scrum-half Will Lane scored in a similar position to Brown, and the conversion was excellent from Reed.

The Warriors fly-half kicked a penalty kick shortly afterwards too, to give them a nine-point lead with just five minutes left, which was then cut back to six after Bazalgette kicked a penalty late on to secure a losing bonus point for Hartpury.

Hartpury now have one win in their opening five games of the season, and the fixtures don’t get any easier with a trip to Bedford Blues up next after the week break.

Hartpury: Brad Denty, Charlie Powell (Evan Morris 76), Robbie Smith, Ollie Allsopp, Ollie Holliday (Josiah Edwards-Giraud 71), Harry Bazalgette, Cai Gealy (Sam Allford 71); Henry Feeney (Harry Edwards 62), Will Crane (C) (Casey Williams 75), Alex Gibson (Harry Wright 62), Jack Davies, Dale Lemon, Peter Paramore, Caio James (Harry Short 71), Jay Evans (Noah Williams 24).

Worcester: Louis Brown, Jake Garside, Siva Nualango, Tom Seabrook (Rory Taylor 75), Will Trewin (Alfie Garside 64), Will Reed, Will Lane; Billy Keast (Cam Meill 54), Austin Wallis (Jack Dickinson 54), Fraser Balmain (Ashley Challenger 65), Tom Savage, Tom Hawkins (James Tyas 64), Tim Anstee, Matt Kvesic, James Cherry (Owain Evans 54).

Unused Subs: Noah Cowan.

Referee: Ben Wood

Attendance: 1862

Half-Time: Hartpury 18-12 Worcester

Star Players: Charlie Powell (Hartpury) & Will Reed (Worcester)

Stats: