Hartpury 34 Cornish Pirates 10
Hartpury
Tries: Ethan Hunt 3, 35, Brad Denty 22, Harry Short 27, Jarryd Hayler 77
Conversions: Harry Bazalgette 4, 28, 77
Penalties: Harry Bazalgette 72
Drop goals: N/A
Cornish Pirates
Tries: Alex Everett 64
Conversions: Charlie McCaig 65
Penalties: Bruce Houston 12
Drop goals: N/A
Team line-ups (15-9; 1-8):
Hartpury: Alex Morgan; Brad Denty (Alex Forrester 77), Josiah Edwards-Giraud, Robbie Smith (Wilf McCarthy 71), Ollie Holiday; Harry Bazalgette, Mike Austin (Rhys Price 70); Aristo Benz-Salomon (James Gibbons 77), Ethan Hunt (Will Crane 70), Joe Rees (Alex Gibson 52), Dale Lemon (Cameron Corbett 70), Jack Davies (c); Sam Lewis, Harry Short (Ellis Hart 77), Jarrard Hayler.
Pirates: Will Trewin; Arthur Relton, Charlie McCaig, Harry Yates (Joe Elderkin 56), Robin Wedlake; Bruce Houston (Iwan Price-Thomas 56), Dan Hiscocks (Cam Jones 47); Billy Young (Oisin Michel 40), Harry Hocking (Sol Moody 56), James French (Ollie Andrews 40); Josh King (Alfie Bell 40), Finelan Coleman (Chris Mills 78); Alex Everett, Tomi Agbongbon, Hugh Bokenham (c).
Referee: Jamie Parr (RFU)
Attendance: 1,120
Half Time: 24-3
Star Men: Jack Davies (Hartpury) / Hugh Bokenham (Pirates)
Match report:
‘Tough love’ helps see Hartpury triumph
By Mark Stevens, at the 4ED Hartpury Stadium
A DOSE of ‘tough love’ from Hartpury head coach Mark Cornwell clearly had the desired effect as he watched his side return to winning ways in the Championship with a comprehensive victory over the Cornish Pirates.
Defeat to Doncaster Knights in their final game of 2024 cleared irked Cornwell as he headed into the New Year, but his side gave him the perfect response on their first return to competitive action.
The home pack, led superbly by skipper Jack Davies, laid the foundations for their latest triumph, which was secured virtually by half time following a dominant opening half, which yielded tries for Ethan Hunt (2), Brad Denty and Harry Short.
Hartpury’s dominance in the set-piece was evident early on and the Pirates, who were shorn of a number of forwards due to injury and recalls by parent clubs, struggled to contain their lively hosts.
Hooker Hunt rumbled over inside three minutes from a line-out drill - and he was quickly followed over the whitewash by Denty as Hartpury quick settled into their attacking stride.
Sadly, the Pirates - who had momentarily countered with a penalty from Bruce Houston - did their best to contain the threat, but with limited firepower up front, they struggled to not only gain territory, but keep possession when they did have the ball.
Work on the training paddock for Hartpury was clearly evident as they added two more tries before the break through Short and Hunt, both from well-executed line-out moves, to seal the bonus point by the turn.
The interval could not have come at a better time for the Pirates who, it has to be said, were much improved after the break. However, the contest itself was already done and dusted before the returning Matt Everett latched onto an offload from Tomi Agbongbon to race in for the Pirates only try.
Harry Bazalgette landed a penalty not long after, before the hosts wrapped things up late on with a fifth try from former Pirate, Jarryd Hayler, who was able to gallop in under the sticks for the converted score.
Hartpury’s victory saw them leapfrog their rivals into fifth in the standings - and gave Cornwell the perfect start point from which to attack the second half of the season.
“We took a lesson up at Doncaster last time out,” said Cornwell. “I think we were all hurt by how we played that day and there was some tough love from me in the aftermath. I had to put the boys straight and today they’ve responded in the best possible way.
“I thought our first half performance was outstanding. Our forwards dominated and when you have a platform like to play off, it’s always going to be difficult for the opposition to stop you.
“I’ll be honest, I was surprised by the Pirates, just because that’s normally an area of strength for them, but I thought our lads really took it to them and we got our rewards with the tries.”
There was little complaint in the opposition camp, Pirates joint head coach, Gavin Cattle adding: “After what we did in the first half, we just had too big a hill to climb. The endeavour was there throughout, but as this league shows, if you have an off day, teams will punish you. We’ve done it to others this season, but we’ll take our medicine and we will move on.”
Stats:
HARTPURY
Penalties conceded: 8
Line-outs won: 11
Line-outs lost: 0
Scrums won: 7
Scrums lost: 0
Sin-bins/Reds: 0/0
PIRATES
Penalties conceded: 10
Line-outs won: 10
Line-outs lost: 1
Scrums won: 6
Scrums lost: 4
Sin-bins/Reds: 0/0
