Error strewn Hartpury fall short
By Luke Jarmyn & Charlie King, at Castle Park
HARTPURY RFC left Castle Park disappointed on Friday night, as despite having a 10-point lead Mark Cornwell’s slipped to their second defeat under floodlights in as many weeks.
The defeat to Doncaster Knights, who have struggled all season, hurts the university side’s chances for a third successive top-six finish and means they’ve slipped out of the play-off places.
It will also be painful given how good the reds looked early on, and there were a lot of avoidable mistakes particularly when Knights were down to 14 men in the final stages.
With conditions in South Yorkshire nearly perfect, it was a nightmare start for Hartpury as a Doncaster attack swept down the left-hand side with winger Matt McNab offloading the ball to inside-centre Connor Edwards to slide over.
Ex-Jersey fly-half Russell Bennett put the hosts seven points ahead after barely two minutes.
Hartpury got their opening points on the seventh minute after Doncaster infringed at a line-out, with fly-half Harry Bazalgette slotting home the penalty-kick from 20 metres out.
A great period of pressure by Hartpury ensued which looked like it would come to nothing until No.8 Tom Worts bundled the ball over the line on the quarter-hour mark. Bazalgette’s conversion put the Gloucestershire side three points ahead.
The home-side’s penalty count was tallying up with six conceded already, and another ‘pury try followed on the 24th minute when flanker Harry Short dotted the ball down through an impressive line-out that Doncaster were struggling to cope with.
It was looking even better for Hartpury with Doncaster lock Jasper McGuire being sin-binned.
The game turned on a six-pence when Hartpury gave away a penalty try on the 34th minute after Doncaster produced their own rolling maul from a lineout, while lock Peter Paramore was given a yellow card.
Hartpury failed to hold on to the lead while down to 14 men, and Doncaster crossed the whitewash again as the clock turned red with a good sweeping move out wide finished by hooker Ben Chapman. It gave the Yorkshire side a four-point lead at the break.
Doncaster were in the ascendancy at the start of the second-half and a positive attacking surge only ended with a knock-on and a Hartpury scrum.
Harry Bazalgette was struggling with his accuracy when kicking to touch, and continued to have problems in the second-half. In the 47th minute, he missed the spot again which halted the reds a chance to force the attacking line out.
Doncaster nearly scored their fourth bonus point try from an interception, but Hartpury covered. However, on the 52nd minute that try deservedly came for the dark-blue shirted hosts, as winger Aidan Cross got in behind the red’s line to dot down. Bennett’s conversion made it 28-17 to Donny.
It went from bad to worse for Hartpury as within a three-minute period over the hour-mark both Bazalgette and blindside flanker Cameron Cobbett were both yellow carded after a series of offside decisions against Hartpury.
A brief positive note was Hartpury prop Alex Gibson coming on for his 100th appearance.
The hosts couldn’t capitalise on ‘pury being down to 13 men with Russell Bennet missing a penalty before Jasper McGuire was given a second yellow card at the same time as Hartpury’s two players returned to the fold.
This left 10 minutes for ‘pury to score two tries against 14 men. After some serious pressure they broke through in the 76th minute with outside-centre Robbie Smith dashing over, but replacement scrum half Max Knight missed a close-range conversion.
The score sat at 28-22 with four minutes to go and Hartpury pushing for a try to get a late winner. However, in doing so they got hit on the counter as the ball broke to Donny winger Jordan Olowofela.
The flyer punted the ball down the line and chased after it on the left-flank seemingly to secure an easy solo try. Yet he was surprisingly held up by a last-ditch Hartpury defensive effort.
Nonetheless, there was still time for the ball to be worked to the other side of the pitch and Aidan Cross dived over the try on the right-hand side to complete the hosts win.
Stats:
|
Doncaster Knights |
Hartpury RFC |
|
|
14 |
Penalties conceded |
6 |
|
3 |
Line-outs won |
4 |
|
4 |
Line-outs lost |
2 |
|
1 |
Scrums won |
1 |
|
0 |
Scrums lost |
0 |
|
2 |
Sin-bins |
3 |
|
1 |
Red cards |
0 |
Doncaster Knights: Telusa Veainu, Matt McNab (Jordan Olowofela 55), Zach Kerr, Connor Edwards (Joe Margetts 42), Aidan Cross, Russell Bennett, Ollie Fox (Alex Dolly 74); Logovi’i Mulipola (Andrew Turner 53), Ben Chapman (Fred Davies 74), Cole Keith, Adam Hopkinson, Ben Murphy ©, Jasper McGuire (sent off 69), Josh Bainbridge (Rhys Tait 55), East Timor Villiamu
Not used: Lewis Thiede, Morgan Jones
Tries: Connor Edwards 1, penalty try 34, Ben Chapman 40, Aidan Cross 51, 80
Conversions: Russell Bennett 2, 40+1, 52, 80+1
Hartpury RFC: Brad Denty, Charlie Powell, Robbie Smith, Ollie Allsopp, Ollie Holiday, Harry Bazalgette (Max Knight 68), Sam Allford (Rio Ebanks 76); Harry Bellamy (Louie Trevett 60), Will Crane (cc) (Ethan Hunt 40), Jonathan Benz-Salomon (Alex Gibson 60), Peter Paramore (Harry Taylor 60), Jack Davies (cc), Cameron Cobbett, Harry Short, Tom Worts
Not used: Dan Owen, Keir Clark
Tries: Tom Worts 15, Harry Short 23, Robbie Smith 73
Conversions: Harry Bazalgette 16, 24
Penalties: Harry Bazalgette 7
Referee: Harry Walbaum
Half-time score: 21-17 (to Doncaster Knights)
Star players: Josh Bainbridge (Doncaster Knights) / Harry Short (Hartpury RFC)
Attendance: 1,168
Reaction:
Cornwell rues lack of discipline and bizarre officiating
By Charlie King, at Castle Park
MARK CORNWELL was left confused and frustrated by constant offside calls in his side’s damaging 35-22 defeat to Doncaster Knights at Castle Park.
Despite conceding a try within the first minute, Hartpury bounced back to make it 17-7, before conceding 4 tries and collapsing to defeat.
Hartpury’s Director of Rugby said: “I’ve seen something tonight that I haven’t seen before, I think there must have been 20 penalties for offside.
“The players were shocked by it.”
Errors and ill-discipline afflicted both side’s games as Doncaster’s Jasper McGuire was dismissed for two yellow cards for offside, and they started the game with eight straight penalties for offside calls.
However, Cornwell was keen not to blame the defeat on the referees, and said the players needed to learn from it.
He said: “We’ve got to learn quick. We’ve let some discipline issues creep into our game over the last two or three weeks.
“They [the players) have got to deal with it internally and have a look at themselves, and the decisions they make on the pitch.”
Hartpury hooker and captain Will Crane called Friday night a “bizarre, bizarre game” in which neither side had a foothold, but Doncaster took their chances better.
Asked what this meant for the side’s top six hopes, he said: “We’re up against it now, we’ve not won in five games and have some tough fixtures home and away.
“We’ve got to get back home and have a look at ourselves.”
Crane was however keen to congratulate Alex Gibson on coming off the bench for his 100th appearance for the club, but maintained it was a game he “couldn’t put his finger” on.
The defeat represents a key chance missed to put pressure on their play-off competitors Cornish Pirates, Chinnor, and Nottingham and leaves them in 7th.
Hartpury return to the 4ED next Saturday to host London Scottish.
