Hartpury RFC vs Richmond (H) - 7-7

Honours even at a sodden 4ED Hartpury Stadium

By Luke Jarmyn & Olly Darcy, at Hartpury 4ED Stadium

HARTPURY were forced to settle for two points after playing out an attritional 7-7 draw against Richmond at a mud-ridden Hartpury 4ED Stadium.

Challenging conditions played their part in the low-scoring affair that saw each team score one try and a conversion in the first half, while the second 40 minutes didn’t register a single point.

Biblical rain teemed down in Gloucestershire throughout the day, and an extremely sodden surface at the Hartpury 4ED Stadium was in store for both sides, although conditions did improve before the game got underway.

Hartpury played the first-half from left to right towards the main entrance in their all-red kit, while Richmond got the game underway in their change black kit with yellow and red accents, attacking the Hartpury grill end and.

It was the visitors from Surrey who got onto the scoreboard first after three minutes of play thanks to former Hartpury hooker Will Goffey. An early Richmond lineout led to a driving maul that could not be stopped with Goffey crashing over with the ball in hand on the left-hand side of the posts. Richmond fly-half Alex Burrage converted with ease.

Richmond took control of the set piece early on in the encounter with two scrum penalties, while Hartpury’s early penalty count became a bit of a worry.

However, as the rain eased in the first half, the red men got themselves on the board through scrum-half Cai Gealy. From another driving maul, the 18-year-old pulled the ball out at the right time and sniped through the gap expertly to get himself over the line in between the posts and the right-hand touchline, getting his side on the board.

Harry Bazalgette kicked the ball superbly from the tee to make it 7-7, adding two more points to take his CHAMP Rugby points-leading tally to 167.

Hartpury then thought they had a second try to their name just after the half-hour mark, but referee Christophe Ridley judged that the Richmond defence did just enough to hold the ball up over the try line, rewarding the London side with a goal-line drop-out.

The final five minutes then saw the Gloucestershire side put in a fine defensive shift of their own, stifling Richmond’s attack and forcing them to knock on while just metres away from Hartpury’s try line. Ellis Hart was forced off with a leg injury before the first 40 came to an end at 7-7.

Hartpury and Harry Bazalgette get the second half underway, with the home side playing from right to left and attacking the Hartpury grill stand, while Richmond play from left to right.

The start of the second 40 was a disjointed affair as the torrential rain returned, resulting in several territorial games of kick-tennis that neither side dominated.

A nice break from winger Ollie Allsopp pieced an impressive Richmond defence just after the 50-minute mark, but it could not be turned into vital points as an attritional midfield battle played out in front of 457 hardy fans.

With just ten minutes to go, an opportunity then presented itself for Hartpury to get their noses in front for the first time after a powerful scrum turned the ball over, allowing Player of the Match Gealy to break and send a probing kick in behind a retreating Richmond defence, who were then penalised for holding on at the breakdown.

However, Bazalgette could not add the vital three points from the kick positioned just to the left of the posts, rattling the right-hand upright from just over 22 metres out in the driving rain.

A nervy final few minutes were played out by both sides, with neither team wanting to squander the two points they currently held, resulting in the ball being booted out by Hartpury inside their own 22-metre line to bring an end to an abrasive game.

Those two points for Hartpury see them move onto 58 points and hold their fifth-place position in the CHAMP Rugby table, keeping themselves in the playoff spots before a three-week hiatus takes place. Richmond moved onto 34 points, good enough for 12th in the standings.

Stats:

HARTPURY: Isaac Marsh, Brad Denty, Robbie Smith, Ollie Allsopp, Ollie Holiday, Harry Bazalgette, Cai Gealy; Harrison Bellamy, Will Crane (cc) (Ethan Hunt 61), Alex Gibson (Jono Benz-Salomon 52), Dale Lemon, Jack Davies (cc), Cameron Cobbett, Ellis Hart (Harry Short 36), Tom Worts (Peter Paramore 61)

Replacements not used: Tom Hill, Freddie Stevens, Sam Allford, Keir Clark

Tries: Cai Gealy 18

Conversions: Harry Bazalgette 19

RICHMOND: Callum Grieve, Chidera Obonna, Paddy Case, Jason Baggott, Greg Kitson (Ronnie Du Randt 68), Alex Burrage (Lewis Dennett 75), Luc Jones (c) (Freddie Charles 75); Theo Bevacqua (Seb Brownhill 74), Will Goffey (Harry Hocking 52), Luke Spring (Jimmy Litchfield 74), Jake Monson (vc), George Nugent (Freddie Hosking 58), Ethan Benson, Xavier Hastings (Miles Wakeling 52), Sam Pim

Tries: Will Goffey 3

Conversions: Alex Burrage 4

Referee: Christophe Ridley (RFU)

Attendance: 457

Half-time: 7-7

Star players: Cai Gealy (Hartpury) / Luc Jones (Richmond)

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Cornwell admits Richmond draw was “not a great advert for rugby”

By Olly Darcy, at Hartpury 4ED Stadium

Hartpury RFC head coach Mark Cornwell said “appalling conditions” played their part in his side’s 7-7 draw to Richmond at the Hartpury 4ED Stadium.

Relentless rain fell before, during and after the CHAMP Rugby game and brought about a challenging environment for both sides, with a try and a conversion the only points either team could muster throughout the whole 80 minutes.

As a result, a kick-heavy, scrappy game was played out to 457 fans in Gloucestershire, and Cornwell admitted that it was a game that no one really wanted to see.

“Well, if there's an advert for summer rugby, there it is right there,” Cornwell stated after the low-scoring affair.

“To play rugby in those conditions is just appalling. It was heavy underfoot; you could hardly make two passes put together. It was just a complete mess of a game of rugby, really.

“But there we go, we split the points. Two's better than nothing. They didn't deserve to lose it, but we didn't deserve to lose it. Not a great advert for rugby.”

Hartpury fell to a 7-0 deficit just three minutes into the game, and although they fought back in tough conditions, it was a start that Cornwell hoped to avoid amid the torrential rain.

“The things we talked about, we did the complete opposite in the first two minutes and allowed them to score, so that was a little bit disappointing,” continued the former Gloucester lock.

“Then, you're always chasing, but we clawed back seven points in conditions like that and got back into it.

“I thought we had some good territory in the first half, some good pressure. We should have scored; we got over the line, got held up. That's debatable as well. With the missed penalty too, I thought it might come back and bite us at the end. But, it did in the sense that we didn't get the win.”

Hartpury RFC co-captain Will Crane knew the game was going to be an attritional one, and it was one he branded as “weird” at the end of the 80 minutes.

“The kicking conditions dictated the pace of the game and how the game was played today, I think,” the hooker explained.

“There were a couple of errors in our backfield. When we had an opportunity, we didn't take it in the second half, which I think ultimately is fair play to Richmond for holding us out.

“But it's a really, really tight-knit team. We all play for one another, but it was just one of those games today where we just couldn't quite get it over the line.”

The conclusion of the Richmond game draws the second block of CHAMP Rugby fixtures to a close, which has seen Hartpury take on all the teams currently occupying the top six spots in the table.

The Gloucestershire side continue to hold a play-off spot while sitting in fifth place, but a three-week hiatus comes at a good time for the side before a crucial third block begins.

“We said at the end of the game, if you look at it in a bigger picture, six games, three wins, one draw, we take that at the start of the block,” Crane continued.

“Now, a bit of time off, rest up, recover, and then something tangible to play for in the play-offs at the end.”