Hillman-Cooper keeps Hartpury on a high
by Luke Jarmyn, at College Ground
JUBILANT scenes rung round the College Ground as Hartpury wing Louis Hillman-Cooper dived over the try line in the final seconds to seal a nail-biting win.
There was plenty of high drama as the university side nearly threw away a 21- point first-half lead, beating Bedford Blues the hard way, and keeping a record home crown this season on their toes until the very end.
A relieved Hartpury head coach Mark Cornwell said: “My doctor’s told me my stress levels are too high, and honestly, playing games like that, it was a rollercoaster, up and down.
“We controlled the game for large periods, but we knew Bedford are able to run from everywhere and they did, and went ahead.
“But we got a great try at the end, the boys really deserved it, and it shows real character. Heads didn’t drop, we didn’t make a mistake, and it was a great game, certainly one for the neutrals.
“What was really pleasing is that it was a full team performance, everyone worked together for this win. Our set-piece worked really well, and that’s from a pack that is a couple of years in the making, we’ve got a little bit of depth which we’ve perhaps not had before and that’s made a big difference – you saw that particularly with the effort at the end of the first-half.
“Our discipline wasn’t good enough, three yellow cards, and you can’t usually afford to have three players in the bin, so that gives us plenty to work on before we face Cambridge on Friday night.”
Refreshed after a two-week break, Hartpury started fast and within a few minutes a line-out in the corner led to a driving maul bundling over with openside Harry Short scoring.
The home-side pinned Bedford deep, loosehead Aristot Benz-Solomon was a whisker short by the posts before inside-centre Morgan Adderly-Jones muscled past Bedford scrum-half Jake Garside on the right to dot down.
Adderly-Jones saw yellow on the 12th minute due to a high tackle on Garside, but Bedford couldn’t take advantage and Hartpury extended their lead with wing Alex Morgan intercepting and running 50 metres to finish a solo effort just before the half-hour point.
Grey-shirted Blues had six line-outs deep in the West Country side’s territory, but even with lock Jack Davies sin-binned for pulling down a maul, the visitors suffered white line fever and Hartpury’s pack held firm.
Where Bedford’s forwards couldn’t capitalize, their backs could, and a quick break by wingers Sean French and Dean Adamson opened up Garside, who slipped through to score right of the posts and break Bedford’s duck.
But Harry Bazalgette extended the home-side’s lead from the tee just before the whistle to make it a 17 point gap at half-time.
Bedford enjoyed a five minute purple patch early in the second-half, which really narrowed the game.
French and Adamson linked up again for the latter to spin past a red shirt and go over on the left.
Blues were then awarded a penalty try with Hartpury’s Jacob Morris being sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on.
Short crucially scored from another line-out driving-maul move on the 55th minute, but almost instantly Bedford got deep into Hartpury’s territory, and No.8 Cam King stole the ball off Alex Morgan on the floor to dive over the line right of the posts.
Bazalgette’s boot extended Hartpury’s lead once more on the hour mark, but momentum swung to the Blues and ex-Hartpury students Joe Howard and Will Maisey linked up off the back of a scrum, for Maisey to dash over between the sticks and give Blues a one-point lead.
Against the clock, Hartpury sprung back with double-digit phases and Adderly-Jones set up Hillman-Cooper, who slid over on the left for the win, and to much applause.
Hartpury’s win, their first at home to Bedford in five years, means they now sit sixth in the Championship standings, while the Blues drop to fifth, six points above their conquerors.
Bedford coach Jim Henry said: “It was a really poor start, and a really poor finish from us, but some good stuff in the middle. There was some really poor areas such as the breakdown which let us down, and our last defensive set was disappointing.”
Hartpury 41 Bedford Blues 35
Hartpury:
Tries: Harry Short 6, 55, Morgan Adderly-Jones 11, Alex Morgan 25, Louis Hillman-Cooper 79
Conversions: Harry Bazalgette 7, 12, 26, 56, 80
Penalties: Harry Bazalgette 40+1, 60
Drop Goals:
Bedford Blues:
Tries: Jake Garside 39, Dean Adamson 47, penalty try 51, Cameron King 57, Will Maisey 73
Conversions: Will Maisey 40, 48, 58, 74
Penalties:
Drop Goals:
Hartpury: Jake Morris, Louis Hillman-Cooper, Robbie Smith (Brad Denty 73), Morgan Adderly-Jones, Alex Morgan, Harry Bazalgette, Mike Austin; Aristot Benz-Soloman (Mikey Summerfield 72), Will Crane (C), Jon Benz-Soloman, Dale Lemon (Freddie Thomas 64), Jack Davies, Sam Lewis, Harry Short (Harry Taylor 64), Jarrard Hayler (Josh Gray 66)
Not used: Ethan Hunt, Joe Rees, Joe Williams
Bedford Blues: Matt Worley, Sean French, Jamie Elliott (Louis Grimoldby 66), Michael Le Bourgeois (C), Dean Adamson, Will Maisey, Jake Garside (James Lennon 55); Jamie Jack (Joey Conway 44), Jacob Fields (James Fish 44), Oisin Heffernan (Ed Prowse 44), Robin Williams (Alex Woolford 53), Tom Lockett, Luke Frost, Jac Arthur (Joe Howard 44), Cameron King (Kieran Curran 64)
Not used: N/A
Referee: Richard Gordon
Attendance: 1,213
Half-time: 24 - 07 (to Hartpury)
Star man: Louis Hillman-Cooper (Hartpury)
Stats:
Hartpury:
Penalties conceded: 14
Line-outs won: 16
Line-outs lost: 1
Scrums won: 5
Scrums lost: 0
Sin-bins/Reds: 3/0
Bedford:
Penalties conceded: 11
Line-outs won: 10
Line-outs lost: 3
Scrums won: 8
Scrums lost: 0
Sin-bins/Reds: 0/0
