Hartpury RFC 26 London Scottish 29
Valiant second-half couldn’t stop Hartpury succumbing to Scottish
By Tom Johnson & Luke Jarmyn, at the Richmond Athletic Ground
Hartpury suffered a defeat and only picked up two points against a resilient London Scottish despite a second half that saw Hartpury presented with many opportunities to take the lead. The final score the home team, Scottish, beat the travelling team Hartpury 29-26.
Scottish took an early lead with Will Brown, who broke free in the 13th minute and was offloaded the ball by a falling Scottish player just in front of the try line. It didn’t take long for Hartpury to retaliate and open their account as five minutes later and Alex Morgan was able to score his first try of the night after a brilliantly worked play from the backline.
Hartpury doubled down on their efforts by releasing Jon Benz-Salmon in the 30th minute after a period of relentless attack that Hartpury would have never given up on until they got some more points on the board. Less than five minutes elapsed and the scores were even again though, as Scottish scored an easy try from a lineout deep in Hartpury territory.
Scottish weren’t done for the half either as a quick break with some very quick handwork from their left flank put them in the lead a minute before the halftime whistle. The score saw Scottish 21 – 14 up at half time.
Their momentum didn’t fade as the second half kicked off either as they were able to score a try in the first phase of their second attack of the half but Hartpury instantly brought themselves back into the game with Alex Forrester’s try, catching a perfectly placed Crossfield kick to free him to walk over the line unchallenged. Things turned tense for the Scottish home fans as they were unable to score a try on a long and hard fought attack shortly after, instead settling for an easy penalty kick for Harry Sheppard. Seven minutes later, Hartpury were very much back in the game with Jack Davies getting over the line, leaving the score 29-26 to Scottish with less than 20 minutes to play.
Hartpury put everything they had into trying to get the victory but Scottish defended well and remained composed. One instance saw Alex Morgan chasing down a bobbling ball in Scottish’s try zone for it to fumble out of his hands under the pressure of two Scottish defenders.
The composed Exiles held on to win 29-26.
Hartpury attacking coach Jon Goodridge said: “I think it’s very disappointing from the fact we had so many opportunities towards the end.
“Probably overall, I’m not sure whether we deserved to win the game but we had the opportunities at the end, which is the most frustrating part. We had five or six close line plays but we couldn’t get over the line and that’s credit to Scottish for holding us out.
“They’re had a lot of tight, last-minute losses so it must have been tough for them but they held us out.
“Two points, it’s not the end of the world but we’re disappointed we couldn’t get over the line.”
Scottish director of rugby Bryan Redpath said: “I’m delighted for the whole club, because it’s a long time coming.
“This is a terrific group with plenty of ability, and when we can put things together, you can see what we are capable of.”
Scorers
Hartpury RFC:
Tries: Morgan 18, Benz-Solomon 30, Forrester 48, Davies 62
Conversions: Bazalgette 18, 31, 49
London Scottish:
Tries: Brown 13, Ingall 35, Wallis 38, Ferdinand 42
Conversions: Sheppard 13, 35, 39
Penalties: Sheppard 55
Teams (15-9; 1-8):
London Scottish: Will Brown (Luke Mehson 65), Will Talbot-Davies, Ben Waghorn, Bryn Bradley, Noah Ferdinand, Harry Sheppard, Dan Nutton (Jonny Law 78); Will Prior (Tom Osborne 58), Austin Wallis, Will Hobson (Rhys Charalambous 50), Matt Wilkinson (Marijn Huis 49), Bailey Ransom (cc), Ioan Rhys Davies (Harry Browne 75), Jack Ingall, Tom Marshall
Not used: Garin Lloyd, Alec Lloyd-Seed
Hartpury: Jacob Morris, Alex Forrester (Matthew Ward 78), Louis Hillman-Cooper, Jack Reeves (Tommy Matthews 55), Alex Morgan, Harry Bazalgette, Mike Austin; Aristot Benz-Salomon (Tom Sims 78), Will Crane (c) (Ethan Hunt 68), Jono Benz-Salomon (Joe Rees 68), Dale Lemon, Jack Davies, Josh Gray (Mitch Eadie 65), Harry Short, Jarrard Hayler
Not used: Harry Taylor, JJ Williams
Referee: Michael Hudson
Attendance: 517
Half-time: 21 – 14 (to London Scottish)
Star players: Jack Ingall (London Scottish) / Jono Benz-Salomon (Hartpury)
