Valiant Hartpury fall agonisingly short
By Luke Jarmyn & Charlie King, at Nick Newbold Stadium
HARTPURY RFC fell just short of a place in the Champ’s semi-finals after a 28-25 defeat to Coventry at the Nick Newbold Stadium.
Despite the loss ending their league title hopes, the narrow loss ends a largely positive season for the Gloucestershire men who have enjoyed some fantastic results over the last nine months.
The anticipation was palpable in Coventry ahead of this mouth-watering play-off clash, with the city on a high after the nearby football team’s promotion to the Premier League.
Hartpury, meanwhile, were buoyant after a late burst at the end of the tier two league season, winning four of their last five games, which secured their place for this play-off quarter-final clash.
Mark Cornwell made just two changes to the side that beat Cornish Pirates 30-21 back at the university ground on the previous weekend, with Brad Denty coming into the No.11 shirt for Ollie Holliday while Harry Taylor replaced Jarrard Hayler in a reshuffled back-row.
Comparatively Coventry made three changes to their line-up after an impressive 62-28 win over fellow west Midlanders Worcester Warriors meant they ended the regular season in third on 93 points, 12 ahead of Hartpury, and affirmed themselves as the bookies’ favourites for this knock-out tie.
Hartpury fly-half Harry Bazalgette kicked off after the coin toss went the reds way, and it was the visitors that struck the first blow with a characteristic 50-yard Bazalgette penalty making it 3-0 on the sixth minute.
However, this sat between a succession of sloppy errors that meant the team in red conceded their fourth penalty to grant Coventry a lineout in their 22-metre area on the 10th minute.
The hosts capitalised to bundle over the whitewash from a rolling maul, with No.8 Morgan Strong the beneficiary, and ex-Hartpury star Tommy Mathews adding the extras to make it 7-3 to west Midlanders.
In the 16th minute the deficit was reduced to one as Coventry conceded a knock-on, gifting Bazalgette the chance to add three points that he did not turn down.
Mark Cornwell’s side began to find their rhythm after this, with scrum-half Rhys Price the driving force behind some nice attacking moves.
It bore fruit in the 26th minute for Hartpury as they got their noses back in front; inside-centre Ollie Allsopp’s burst through the blue-and-white hooped shirted hosts defence to score the first away try, making it 7-13.
It looked like it might stay that way into half time, but as the clock turned red Coventry weaved some magic from a lineout once again with Strong on hand to dot down a second time.
Some solace for Hartpury came as Mathews failed to convert against some of his ex-team-mates, meaning they held a one point advantage going into the second half.
Mathews kicked off for the second-half, which begun in scrappy fashion ad doing little to help ease the nerves of those travelling Gloucestershire fans.
It was in the 53rd minute that the reds were forced to surrender their lead, with another long line of penalties going against the university-based side allowing Mathews to score from the tee and make it 15-13.
Seven minutes later there was a double blow for Hartpury, with blindside flanker Harry Taylor given a yellow card for a high tackle on Coventry outside-centre Apisai Bavadra. The lack of discipline also meant Coventry replacement fly-half Josh Thomas added another three points from the tee.
This gave Hartpury a mountain to climb, being a man down with a five-point deficit on the hour-mark.
Just as the ten-minute sin-bin was coming to an end, and Hartpury turned over the ball to attack down the right, Coventry turned the ball back over with replacement hooker Murray Davidson bursting through the reds defence. The No.2 strode into the open space in front of him and crossed the try line to finish an end-to-end few minutes in the hosts favour.
Thomas converted the try, making it 25-13 to Coventry, a lead that seemed unsurmountable for Mark Cornwell’s team with 11 minutes to play.
As the game ticked into its final three minutes, another Hartpury infringement allowed Thomas to extend the lead to 15 points.
However, typical of the character of the Hartpury team throughout this season, they never gave in, kept fighting and scored two late tries in quick succession.
With almost his first touch of the ball after coming on, replacement wing Josh Field allowed the men in red to burst forward and the fantastic run finished with Allsopp sliding over to claim his second try of the day by the left post.
Bazalgette had a rare wayward kick so the conversion sailed slightly wide, but undeterred winger Brad Denty dotted down less than 60 seconds later after some good work by the reds down the left flank.
Despite Bazalgette converting Denty’s try, it was too little too late with the game ending 28-25 to Coventry.
Despite falling short at the quarter-final stage of the play-offs, Hartpury RFC can be proud of another strong season in the Champ league.
The defeat also means Hartpury have lost their head-to-head battle with Alex Rae’s Coventry outfit, having won 36-31 at home in November before losing the regular season return fixture 31-19 in February.
Stats:
|
Coventry RFC |
Hartpury RFC |
|
|
11 |
Penalties conceded |
15 |
|
6 |
Line-outs won |
3 |
|
1 |
Line-outs lost |
1 |
|
5 |
Scrums won |
4 |
|
0 |
Scrums lost |
0 |
|
0 |
Sin-bins |
1 |
|
0 |
Red cards |
0 |
Coventry RFC: Tomas Bacon, David Opoku-Fordjour, Oli Morris (Dafydd-Rhys Tieuti 48), Apisai Bavadra, Jack Reeves, Tommy Mathews (Josh Thomas 49), Sam Maunder (Josh Barton 65); Aristot Benz-Salomon (Keston Lines 68), Jordan Poole (Murray Davidson 49), Matthew Johnson (Elliott Salt 48), Jack Shine (Dan Green 48), Mackenzie Graham, Alan Ferrie, Thomas Ball, Morgan Strong.
Replacement not used: Sam Harding
Tries: Morgan Strong 10, 40, Murray Davidson 69
Conversions: Tommy Mathews 11, Josh Thomas 70
Penalties: Josh Thomas 53, 61, 77
Hartpury RFC: Will Knight, Charlie Powell (Josh Field 73), Robbie Smith (Max Knight 51), Ollie Allsopp, Brad Denty, Harry Bazalgette, Rhys Price (Cai Gealy 68); Harrison Bellamy (Louie Trevett 49-54), Will Crane (cc) (Ethan Hunt 68), Jonathan Benz-Salomon (Alex Gibson 64), Dale Lemon, Jack Davies (cc), Harry Taylor, Harry Short (Cameron Murray 68), Cameron Cobbett (Peter Paramore 75)
Tries: Oliver Allsopp 26, 78, Brad Denty 80
Conversions: Harry Bazalgette 27, 80+1
Penalties: Harry Bazalgette 6, 16
Sin-bins: Harry Taylor 60
Referee: Alex Thomas (RFU)
Attendance: 2,061
Half-time: 12-13 (to Hartpury RFC)
Star players: Matthew Strong (Coventry RFC) / Ollie Allsopp (Hartpury RFC)
Reaction:
Cornwell frustrated by ‘strange’ performance but proud of his team
By Luke Jarmyn & Charlie King, at Nick Newbold Stadium
HARTPURY RFC’s Director of Rugby Mark Cornwell was left ruing a confusing performance by his side as the team from Gloucestershire fell to a 28-25 defeat at Coventry.
The result after the 73-mile journey through the M5 has ended their season, falling at the Champ Rugby play-off quarter-final stage after finishing a strong sixth in the regular season.
On his team’s performance, Cornwell said: “I don’t think we got into our game really, I don’t know why.
“It was a strange performance; we couldn’t get any continuity into our game. There was hardly any constructive attacking shape.”
He was also critical of referee Alex Thomas’ involvement in the game, and said: “The referee wouldn’t stop blowing his whistle, it was very frustrating for anyone watching.
“It could have been a much better spectacle but it wasn’t allowed to be.”
Fifteen penalties were awarded against Cornwell’s side, and Coventry were pulled up a further 11 times.
However, he was keen to state the season had been a positive one for Hartpury, adding: “We’ve stuck around the middle of the table for most of the season, and got to this stage, there’s eight sides that don’t get here [to the playoffs].
“They’ve been a credit to Hartpury as an institution and a rugby team, they’re a tight-knit bunch and I’m proud of all of them.”
Echoing his coach’s sentiments, Hartpury co-captain and lock, Jack Davies said: “We’ve got to be massively proud of what we’ve achieved as a group, we’ve punched above our weight in terms of the teams we’re around.
“It’s a real family at Hartpury and I think we’ll just continue to build and get better into next season.”
Hartpury’s regular No.5 believes the side were let down on the day by some discipline issues and sloppiness.
Summing up, Davies added: “Our reaction to the penalty count can be better and we were over-eager at the breakdown.
“There were a few inaccuracies on our side, but that’s knockout rugby, it’s going to come down to fine margins.”
Hartpury RFC can now look forward to next season, while Coventry travel to Bedford for a play-off semi-final next weekend.
