Ampthill welcomed Jersey Reds to Dillingham Park in perfect rugby conditions – bright sunshine with a light south westerly wind. A brief shower during the warm up giving the playing surface some zip!
From the kick-off Ampthill put themselves under pressure – a sliced kick giving possession back to the visitors and then the first of 15 penalties against the hosts!
Jersey took only seven minutes to open the scoring – Ben Woollett coming inside to break the Ampthill line. Woollett collected his second on 18 minutes with the Ampthill defence gifting Jersey an overlap on the right wing for an easy finish. 0 – 12. A 25th minute penalty try for pulling down the maul gave Jersey a 0 – 19 lead. Ollie Stonham reduced the arrears to 7 – 19 on 33 minutes – Rekeiti Ma’asi-White-White broke through and from recycled ball Stonham divide over wide left. Jersey secured their bonus point before half time taking a 7 – 26 lead into the break.
Ampthill improved in the second half and outscored Jersey by two tries to one. Ma’asi-White-White intercepted on his own 22 to run away and score before Theo Dan scored his second in two games for Ampthill finishing from a line-out and maul! Jersey wing Tomi Lewis added Jersey fifth try with relatively simple finish.
Paul Turner – Ampthill Head Coach “We prepared well and knew what Jersey are about. Our set piece struggled but we were still tactically naive and poured a lot of pressure on ourselves. We talked about matching the Jersey kick-chase game and ultimately it was our downfall.Â
Jersey took a 26 -7 lead into half time and by that point it was game over! We improved in the second half but have a lot to work on before Ealing visit next Saturday!”
