Hartpury hold on to break years of misery at the Mennaye
By Luke Jarmyn & David Sillifant, at the Mennaye Field
HARTPURY withstood a stirring second half fightback from the Cornish Pirates to start their season with an encouraging opening day 22-21 win in Penzance.
The all red-kitted university side dominated the first half and after electric full-back Alex Morgan scored an early try, co-captain Will Crane dotted down twice while Harry Bazalgette kicked seven points from the tee.
With three of Hartpury’s team facing their former club in Crane, Bazalgette and No. Jarrard Hayler, Mark Cornwell’s men knew what was coming at them in the second-half and despite the home-side finding form they held on to end a run of 10 successive defeats when travelling to the Duchy.
Hartpury arrived at the notorious Mennaye Field ground looking to end their Cornwall hoodoo, and started well with the wind at their backs.
After stringing together some quick phases, the ball was worked out to Morgan just outside of the 22 on the left-wing and he delicately chipped through before winning the race to the try line on the eighth minute.
The visitors were on top and doubled their lead on the quarter-hour mark when a penalty was kicked deep into Pirates 22 metre area. From the resulting driving maul hooker Crane got the decisive touch to dot down and score. Bazalgette made it two from two off the tee to make it 14-0
Bazalgette added a penalty four minutes later from 22 metres out and just to the left of the posts after the hosts were done for holding on. It meant Hartpury ended the first quarter with a healthy 17-0 lead.
The hosts missed two good chances as a penalty kick to the corner from inside their 22 went wrong, before Hartpury stole a line-out close to their own try line.
On the 29th minute Pirates were penalised when inches from scoring, and were in even bigger trouble five minutes later when centre Joe Elderkin was given a 20-minute red-card for a high tackle on Ollie Allsopp, while both players look bloodied from the incident.
From the resulting penalty which Bazalgette kicked deftly to the corner, Crane once again finished off a powerful driving maul from a well worked line-out.
Bazalgette added the extras and ended the half with an ambitious penalty attempt from just inside his own half which drifted wide to scupper his 100 per cent record from the tee.
The hosts needed to throw caution to the wind in the second-half and soon pinned the visitors in their own 22.
A series of penalties ended with Pirates captain Alex Everett crashing over from a scrum, only for referee Jamie Parr to have already blown his whistle so it came to nothing.
But the Pirates got on the scoreboard on the 54th minute when full-back Iwan Price-Thomas offloaded to winger Arthur Relton to dot down. Pirates returning hero Arwel Robson converted.
The west Cornish hosts started dominating, showing that whoever was playing towards the car park end had a clear advantage while Hartpury struggled at scrum time.
Both teams started to utilise their replacements after the 50-minute mark with Hartpury introducing prop Oliver Minis and hooker Ethan Hunt to the front row.
It was game on just after the hour-mark as a driving maul from the Cornishmen ended with hooker Sol Moody crossing.
The game became scrappy, but a thrilling finale was set-up when Pirates replacement flanker Tomi Agbongbon crashed through and into the 22, and scrum-half Dan Hiscocks kicked the ball inside for Relton to dot down.
Robson’s conversion made it a one-point game and the home side had a couple of minutes to earn the most thrilling of wins, however they were penalised in the loose as Mark Cornwell’s men held on for a memorable triumph.
It means Hartpury start the season with four points and sit in the top half of the table before next Saturday’s home clash with revived local rival Worcester Warriors (kick off at 2.30pm).
Stats:
|
Cornish Pirates |
|
Hartpury |
|
13 |
Pens conceded |
11 |
|
5 |
Line-outs won |
13 |
|
7 |
Line-outs Lost |
3 |
|
4 |
Scrums won |
4 |
|
1 |
Scrums lost |
3 |
|
0 |
Sin-bins |
0 |
|
1 |
Red-cards |
0 |
Cornish Pirates
Tries: Arthur Relton 54, 78, Sol Moody 62
Conversions: Arwel Robson, 55, 63, 78
Penalties:
Drop Goals:
Hartpury RFC
Tries: Alex Morgan 8, Will Crane 15, 35
Conversions: Harry Bazalgette 9, 16
Penalties: Harry Bazalgette 19
Drop Goals:
CORNISH PIRATES: Iwan Price-Thomas, Arthur Relton, Chester Ribbons, Joe Elderkin, (Matty Ward, 55), Harry Yates, Arwel Robson, Dan Hiscocks; Billy Young (Alessandro Heaney, 67), Morgan Nelson (Sol Moody, HT), Alfie Petch (Ollie Andrews, 57), Milo Hallam (Rory Suttor, 57), Josh King, Matt Cannon, Jack Forsythe (Tomi Agbongbon, 65), Alex Everett (c).
Not used: Will Rigelsford, Louie Sinclair
HARTPURY: Alex Morgan, Keiran Clark, Robbie Smith (Will Knight, 59), Ollie Allsopp (Knight, 33 to 40), Ollie Holiday, Harry Bazalgette, Rhys Price; George Alexander (Louie Trevett, 59), Will Crane (cc) (Ethan Hunt, 58), Alex Gibson (Oliver Minis 50); Peter Paramore, Jack Davies (cc); Cameron Cobbett (Josh Gray, 72), Harry Short (Ellis Hart, 72), Jarrard Hayler.
Not used: Cai Gealy, Brad Denty
Referee: Jamie Parr (RFU)
Attendance: 1,381
Half-time: 0-22 (to Hartpury)
Star man: Harry Bazalgette (Hartpury)
A “really special” win, says Crane
Reaction by Dave Sillifant, at the Mennaye Field
HARTPURY co-captain Will Crane admitted it was ‘really, really special’ after the university-based outfit opened their Champ Rugby season with a 22-21 success at the Cornish Pirates on Saturday.
After full-back Alex Morgan put Hartpury ahead early on, the hooker twice finished off driving mauls against his old club as they led 22-0 at the break.
The hosts fought back, scoring a third try with a couple of minutes to spare, but Mark Cornwell’s side held on to make the long trip home with four points.
Crane said: “I think I’ve been down here about 10 years and never won, so to finally come away with a win is really, really special and particularly against a few old mates, makes it even better.
“The bus journeys home when you win are that much sweeter, so we’ll have a couple of beers to reminisce on the good moments in the game, and then we’ll focus on next week.”
Asked about their driving maul which proved so effective, he enthused: “It’s something we’re putting a lot of work into at the moment and we were a real threat.
“At the same time, I know the Pirates do a lot of work on those both in defence and attack, but it was really pleasing to get over the line there twice today although I’m only the cherry on the top from the hard work done by the guys in the middle.”
His old side were much improved after the restart, helped by having the wind in their favour.
Crane said: “We said at half-time we knew they’d come out firing and we’d have quell that momentum.
“Fair play to them, they came at us hard, but those few stages where we ticked over some penalties and managed some line-out turnovers really helped cement that win for us.”
Worcester Warriors are the visitors for a local derby next Saturday (2.30pm) and Crane admits he can’t wait.
He said: “It’s nice to have them back in the league. I hear a big crowd is coming and they’ve got a really good squad, but we’re little old Hartpury and we’ll see what we can do.
“We love games like that and punching above our weight, so we’re looking forward to it.
“We’ll just focus on ourselves, we’ve got limited preparation time, but we’ll try and produce more of the same and hopefully come away with another good win.”
Pasty full of praise
DIRECTOR of rugby Mark Cornwell praised his side after securing their first-ever victory at the Cornish Pirates in their Champ Rugby opener on Saturday afternoon.
Hartpury have been coming to the Mennaye Field since the 2017/18 season after winning the National League One title, but finally got their monkey off the back with a 22-21 success.
The former Gloucester lock said: “It’s probably my first win down here in about 12 attempts, so we know tough a place this is to come.
“Pirates at home make it very, very difficult, and we’ve had a few spankings down here over the years, but to come away with a victory today, I’m over the moon.”
The visitors led 22-0 at the break as after Alex Morgan opened the scoring, a penalty from Harry Bazalgette either side of driving maul tries from co-captain Will Crane which Bazalgette converted, gave them a healthy cushion.
The hosts fought back in the second half with three tries from Arthur Relton (2) and Sol Moody, all of which were added to by Arwel Robson, but the visitors held on for four points.
Cornwell continued: “Our gameplan worked a treat for us. We kicked well, were physical and caused the Cornish Pirates issues and forced them into errors which is unlike them.
“We kept the scoreboard ticking and there was a decision in there to go for three points to make it 17-0 at the time, and those actual three points won us the game in the end.”
Such a healthy lead at the break is a rare position to find yourself in at half-time, but Cornwall knew it wouldn’t be easy.
He said: “There was a strong wind down here today and all the points were scored at one end, so it was tough playing into that wind. They found it tough and so did we.
“It was a case of trying to keep some composure in the second half and not make errors, but we found it difficult.
“There are certain aspects of the game that we need to work on, and the Pirates came after us in those areas, but look, we got over the line so we move on.”
Such is the nature of the second-tier, tough tests await every week starting with a home clash against the re-formed Worcester Warriors next Saturday (2.30pm).
He said: “We’re expecting a big crowd, Worcester is only 30 minutes or so down the road, so all of their season ticket holders have got a short trip.
“They won today at Coventry and we’re expecting a tough challenge. They’ve got a big squad and some very good players there, but we’ll sit down, dust ourselves off, assess the bumps and bruises we’ve got and start to analyse what Worcester are about.
“We’ve got a long trip home tonight, and then we’ve got to assess our injuries, have a look at ourselves on Monday and then try and put a squad together that is fit and raring to go next Saturday.”
