Hartpury 31 - Caldy 07
Fantastic five as Hartpury take Caldy to the hurt arena
by Luke Jarmyn,
SCRUM-half Mike Austin nipped through several defenders to score Hartpury’s fifth try as the West Country side blew away any cobwebs in style to get a perfect start to the new year.
Outside centre Robbie Smith, tighthead Jon Benz-Salomon, fullback Tommy Mathews, and openside Harry Short all got over the try-line as John Barnes’ side mastered the Wirral wind to make it three wins in four, lifting them up into the mid-table mix.
Sporting a smile after the final whistle, Hartpury director of rugby John Barnes said: “I’m really pleased, Caldy’s a really tough place to come and get a result, we’ve all found that Doncaster lost here just before Christmas, so we knew it was going to be tough and we knew the weather wasn’t going to be great, but we battled through.
“We we’re a score short in the first-half playing with the wind, but it was hard to manage as the wind was so strong. Our try just before half-time was crucial.
“We controlled the ball really well during the second-half, which was key with a hard diagonal wind to play into, kept the penalty count down, and chased Caldy’s errors. Its an important win after a month off as we want to climb up the table.”
With Hartpury returning nearly a month after their last fixture, and being just a point above Caldy, while the Ravers were full of confidence after picking up a well-fought try bonus-point at Ealing, the prediction was for a tight game and the first 15 minutes proved was to form.
Despite conceding several early penalties, the Gloucestershire side’s forwards –aided by the blustery wind - pinned Caldy deep in their own 22-metre area, and several phases from a 10-metre line-out saw fly-half Harry Bazalgette offload to Smith, who danced past Caldy No.10 Rhys Hayes to dive over left of the posts and open the scoring.
The Wirral side’s scramble defence kept them in the game, but a five-minute Hartpury purple patch just before half-time proved pivotal.
A short line-out saw Benz-Salomon muscle over in the corner, then Hartpury lock Dale Lemon’s charge down kept Caldy by their posts before several quick short passes led to Bazalgette opening up Mathews, who darted a fantastic line to score on the cusp of half-time.
Caldy re-started strong, ex-Sale Sharks blindside Ewan Murphy linking up with England 7s veteran Nic Royle for a running try by the right post.
But any hope from the Paton Field faithful of a Ravers revival was short lived as Hartpury’s forwards dominated possession, and from a quick line-out Short marked his half-century of caps by powering in between several defenders to slide over on the right.
As a glimmer of sunlight broke through the clouds overhead, Bazalgette grabbed a third conversion, which was impressive given the strong wind.
Ravers inside-centre Mike Barlow saw yellow for foul play at a ruck, and Hartpury pounced with another quick line-out 15 metres out played to Austin, who nipped through Caldy’s line to score under the sticks and seal a shrewd win.
The win lifts Hartpury up to seventh in table, above Nottingham and on the same points as Ampthill, who they host at the College Ground next Saturday.
Caldy director of rugby Gareth Davies said: “We’re disappointed with ourselves on the day, we made lots of unforced errors, which fed into what Hartpury are all about, and allowed them to score some soft tries.”
Caldy:
Tries: Nic Royle 45
Conversions: Ben Jones 46
Penalties:
Drop Goals:
Hartpury:
Tries: Rob Smith 17, Jon Benz-Soloman 36, Thomas Mathews 40+1, Harry Short 59, Mike Austin 67
Conversions: Harry Bazalgette 18, 40+2, 60
Penalties:
Drop Goals:
Team line-ups (15-9; 1-8):
Caldy: Matthew Kilcourse (Lewis Barker 22), Nic Royle, Connor Wilkinson, Mike Barlow, Ben Jones (Mike Cartmill 58), Rhys Hayes, Chris Pilgrim (Joe Murray 67); Adam Aigbokhae (Ryan Higginson 58), Oliver Hearn (Matthew Gallagher 58), Joe Sproston (Nathan Rushton 44), Sam Dickinson (Sam Olyott 40), Martin Gerrard, Ewan Murphy, Ciaran Booth (Callum Ridgway 73), JJ Dickinson ©.
Not used: N/A
Hartpury: Thomas Mathews, Bradley Denty (Charlie Powell 67), Robert Smith, Morgan Adderley-Jones, Alex Morgan (Sam Smith 67), Harry Bazalgette, Mike Austin (Matthew Jones 67); Aristot Benz-Soloman (Michael Summerfield 67), Will Crane © (Ethan Hunt 67), Jon Benz-Soloman (Alex Gibson 69), Dale Lemon (Freddie Thomas 62), Jack Davies, Sam Lewis, Harry Short, Josh Gray (Mitchell Eadie 62).
Not used: N/A
Referee: Charles Gayther
Attendance: 1,245
Half-time: 0 – 19 (to Hartpury)
Star man: Harry Short (Hartpury)
Stats:
Caldy:
Penalties conceded: 13
Line-outs won: 8
Line-outs lost: 4
Scrums won: 6
Scrums lost: 1
Sin-bins/Reds: 1/0
Hartpury:
Penalties conceded: 9
Line-outs won: 20
Line-outs lost: 1
Scrums won: 4
Scrums lost: 1
Sin-bins/Reds: 0/0
