Two of the form teams in the Championship met in Round 18 at the 4ED Stadium on Saturday and the hosts evidenced why they sit third in the table and are unbeaten at home this season.
Hartpury took seven minutes to open the scoring, centre James Short breaking the line with Harry Short in support who dived over the line under the posts. A successful conversion 7-0.
Hartpury doubled their advantage on 19 minutes after significant Ampthill pressure in the hosts 22. Hartpury took possession on their own try line and ran the length of the pitch with three or four passes for Austin to score. Conversion good. 14 v 0
Ampthill enjoyed territory and possession for the next period before fashioning their first score of the afternoon, a scrum penalty followed by a successful line out and two phases later Sione Va’enuku crashed over. Johnson’s conversion reducing the deficit to 14 v 7 at half time.
Hartpury restored their two-score advantage within a minute of the restart, a defensive error exploited by Hartpury and prop Benz-Solomon bounced off tackles to score under the posts 21 v 7
As Ampthill pushed for another score, Hartpury punished a gap in the visitors defence and broke away to score their bonus point try. 28 v 7
The Ampthill set-piece has been effective of late and a 5m line out led to the Mob second try, vice-captain Rhys Marshall coming up with the ball. Another successful conversion from Johnson, 28 v 14 with just over 20 minutes to play
A kicked Hartpury penalty made it a three score game at 31 v 14 and as Ampthill chased the game Hartpury scored their fifth and final try with minutes to play and closed out a 38 v 14 win.
Following the game, Head Coach Paul Turner said “I felt we lost the referee early in the game. We were in the game at half-time and I said to the players that we could go on and win it. We lost our way defensively in the second half, making too many system errors and missing one on one tackles. Hartpury deserved their win, we just made it easier for them”
Picture: Gary Learmouth
