Ampthill suffered their second straight home defeat in the RFU Championship, losing 17-33 to an in-form Cornish Pirates side on The Olney Field, extending the visitors winning run in the league to 5 matches.
The Pirates started the match on the front foot, and were rewarded with the first try of the match after just 5 minutes. After The Mob defended the rolling maul well from close range, the visitors moved the ball quickly to the right hand side, and after dummying his way between two Ampthill defenders, winger Will Trewin had the space and time to dot the ball down unopposed. A well-struck Bruce Houston conversion gave Cornish Pirates a 7-0 lead after 6 minutes.
The visitors continued to dominate the early stages, and extended their lead to 12-0 after 13 minutes. Similar to The Pirates’ first try, centre Charlie McCaig managed to go through a gaping hole in the Ampthill defence, and after exchanging passes with Trewin, McCaig was quick enough to evade the covering defenders and dive across the whitewash.
Ampthill were unable to change the momentum in the game, and were punished by the Cornish Pirates again, scoring their 3rd try of the match before the 20 minute mark. After a neat exchange of passing near the right touchline, a brilliant pass inside from flanker Will Gibson sent scrum-half Dan Hiscocks into acres of space, and he had the simple task of grounding the ball across the try line unopposed.
The first half blitz from Cornish Pirates was complete in the 25th minute, securing the try bonus point with their 4th score of the afternoon. After building the phases deep inside The Mob’s territory, scrum-half Dan Hiscocks picked up the ball and sniped underneath the Ampthill defence to dot underneath the sticks for his second try of the match. Following a simple Bruce Houston conversion, Cornish Pirates led 26-0 after 26 minutes.
The Mob finally hit back with their first score of the match just 6 minutes later to reduce the deficit to 19 points at half time. Ampthill applied sustained pressure near the Cornish Pirates try line, and after breaking through the tackle, Samson Adejimi brilliantly kept his balance and wormed his way through many bodies to stroll across the try line and dot underneath the posts.
Despite starting the half with 14 men following a yellow card to Sione Va’enuku in the 35th minute, Ampthill scored their second try of the afternoon just 2 minutes into the second period. Building on a positive 10 minute spell before the end of the first half, The Mob put together a well-structured move on the right hand side, and after a well timed pass to Jack Bracken, the winger accelerated into the space and finished with relative ease. The Mob were still 14 points in the arrears following Josh Barton’s missed conversion.
The game was very tightly contested for the next 15 minutes, but Cornish Pirates dealt Ampthill a killer blow in the 57th minute, scoring their 5th try of the afternoon to extend their lead to 21 points. A clever chip over the top just outside the Ampthill 22 was collected by earlier try scorer Charlie McCaig and after forcing his way out of the tackle, he had enough momentum to slide across the try line.
Ampthill tried to secure the two tries needed to leave with a try bonus point, but could only cross the whitewash once before the final whistle with almost the last play of the match. After working the ball from side to side deep inside the visitors 22, James Johnston applied the finishing touch in the left corner to close out the scoring in the 79th minute.
Speaking after the loss, Ampthill head coach Paul Turner said, “We lost the game in the first half, it’s as poor as we have been. We actually created quite a lot to be fair, but it’s what we are at the moment, we’re too inconsistent in a lot of things we do. I was really pleased that we scored with the first play of the second half, but we had another opportunity, a 7 on 2 and had we scored then it might have been a different game. The Pirates are too consistent a side and we knew if we made too many errors then they would take advantage and they deserved their win”.
Ampthill’s next home game is the re-arranged fixture against Hartpury on Sat 11th Jan, kick-off 1:30pm. Tickets are FREE if booked online before Friday 10th January – standard admission fees will apply on the gate
Book tickets here
Ampthill Points Scorers
Tries: Adejimi 32, Jack Bracken 42, Johnston 78
Conversions: Barton 33
Attendance: 1225