Ampthill were narrowly edged out in Paul Turner’s final away game as head coach, losing 38-33 to Cornish Pirates on a sunny Saturday afternoon at The Mennaye Field, but claimed two bonus points with a late try to put The Mob level on points with 7th placed Nottingham.
The Mob controlled the territory early on in the contest, but the Cornish Pirates scored the first try of the match after 8 minutes to give them a 7-0 lead. Playing on penalty advantage, the hosts piled on the pressure near Ampthill’s try line, and eventually lock Josh King managed to ground the ball across the whitewash.
Ampthill responded superbly to the early setback, scoring less than four minutes later to level the match at 7-7. The Mob recycled the ball well after a dominant rolling near reached the try line, and after receiving the ball from Sione Va’enuku a metre from the try line, Valentino Mapapalangi had the simple task of grounding the ball.
Josh Barton slotted a penalty through the uprights in the 21st minute to put Ampthill into a 7-10 lead, and just two minutes later The Mob extended their lead to 10 points after a stunning try from Byron Sharwood. The ball was shifted to the left hand side off the back of Ampthill’s own scrum, and after receiving the ball, Sharwood cut inside, and evaded three covering defenders to score underneath the sticks.
Barton nailed two more penalties in the 28th and 33rd minutes to extend Ampthill’s lead to 7-23, but the hosts hit back in the 36th minute, scoring their second try of the match to reduce The Mob’s lead to 9 points. The Pirates moved the ball quickly off the back of their own lineout, and despite what looked like a knock on, flanker James Forsythe picked up the loose ball and ran clear to dot down with relative ease.
The Pirates further reduced Ampthill’s lead with the last play of the first half, scoring their third try of the afternoon to give The Mob a slender 21-23 half time lead. After ripping the ball during a rolling maul, Matt Cannon carried the ball deep into Ampthill territory, and after latching onto a Matt McNab offload from close range, prop Billy Young dived over in the left corner.
The Mob started the second half on the backfoot, and were punished by The Pirates in the 47th minute, scoring their bonus point try to take the lead for the first time since the 12th minute. The hosts put many bodies into a rolling maul from close range, and eventually drove across the try line, with Matt McNab grounding the ball. Bruce Houston’s fourth successful conversion gave Cornish Pirates a 28-23 lead.
The topsy turvy nature of the game continued with Ampthill’sreplying just seven minutes later to level the match at 28-28 with just over 25 minutes left in the game. After building the phases on penalty advantage, the ball eventually found its way to Rhys Marshall, who dotted down with no Cornish Pirates player anywhere near him.
The Pirates took control of the match over the next 15 minutes, scoring to 10 unanswered points to take a significant 38-28 lead after 71 minutes. Josh King pounced on the loose ball following an Ampthill lineout that went awry, and sprinted across the try line in the 63rd minute, and Bruce Houston added a routine penalty from directly in front of the posts, leaving The Mob with a lot of work to do in the remaining minutes to salvage something from the game.
The Mob fought to the end, and scored the bonus point try with just over two minutes remaining to reduce the deficit to 38-33, bringing them within losing bonus range. After applying immense pressure on the Cornish Pirates’ defence near their own try line, Lekima Ravuvu managed to force his way underneath the tackler and grounded the ball. There was enough time for Ampthill to snatch a late victory, but the Cornish Pirates managed to force the ball dead behind the Ampthill in-goal area to secure the win.
Following the game, Head Coach Paul Turner said “I thought that we played some of teh best rugby of the season. Unfortunately we got sloppy just before half time which allowed Pirates back into the game. I’m proud of our effort but its another game we could’ve won, 2 points on the road is our only reward”
Ampthill Points Scorers
Tries: Mapapalangi 12, Sharwood 23, Marshall 54, Ravuvu 79
Conversions: Barton 13, 24
Penalties: Barton 21, 28, 33
