Hartpury RFC 14 Exeter Chiefs 36
By Mark Stevens, at the 4ED Hartpury Stadium
PREMIERSHIP power and pace may have told in the end, but Hartpury head coach Mark Cornwell was full of praise for his side’s battling performance against visiting Exeter Chiefs.
Up against a star-studded Exeter outfit, fresh from a top flight victory against Saracens the previous week, few predicted Cornwell’s charges to get much from their return to Premiership Rugby Cup action.
What they produced however, albeit in a 36-14 defeat, certainly augurs well for the future.
“We knew it was going to be a test, especially when you looked at their side, but I’m so proud of the boys for the way they stuck at it, they didn’t give in and they showed a lot of character out there today,” Mark Cornwell said at the final whistle.
“I had five players playing today that I didn’t even have registered at the start of the week, so when you are bringing in players on loan that you’ve never trained with before, it’s always going to be difficult, but every one of them showed a lot of character.”
Indeed, they did. Even though the Chiefs were never in any danger of losing the contest, Hartpury certainly made them work for every point, fighting right to the very last embers of this hard-fought encounter.
Winger Paul Brown-Bampoe gave the Devonians the perfect start, finishing off a slick handling move inside seven minutes for the game’s opening score.
Minutes later, they added to their tally, hooker Dan Frost tapping from a close-range penalty, before fellow forward Ethan Roots took up the charge. Although the England international was held shy of the line, Frost rumbled in behind him, before stretching out his arm to claim the try.
Fly-half Harvey Skinner added the extras for the Chiefs, but just moments later he was banished to the sidelines for a ten-minute stint, referee Craig Maxwell-Keys yellow carding him for a tip tackle on Mathew Protheroe.
With the man advantage, Hartpury pressed in attack and their efforts were rewarded when Mike Austin was able to scamper clear of the Chiefs cover, latching onto a pass from Jack Johnson to dot down. On-loan fly-half Nathan Chamberlain added the extras.
As the half meandered towards the break, both sides slugged it out in a decent arm wrestle in the heavy conditions. It was, however, the Chiefs who added to their tally, Frost running a powerful line to smash through two defenders and over for his second of the day.
The impressive Roots bagged Exeter’s bonus point score shortly after the interval, rumbling over from a close-range line-out, before Brown-Bampoe claimed his second, this time grabbing a sublime cross-field kick from Skinner to score in the right corner.
A plethora of replacements from both sides meant the game lost its fizz as it entered into the final quarter, but it was the Chiefs who wrapped up their success when replacement Tamati Tua was able to thunder his way through the heart of the home defence to claim a sixth score, converted by Skinner.
To their credit, Hartpury refused to go quietly and with the last play of the game, Harry Short grabbed a deserved second score, catching the Chiefs napping with a crafty, front play off a line-out. Chamberlain obliged with the conversion to cap the game off.
Hartpury head coach Mark Cornwell added: “They don’t give you much, but to get over the line at the end, it made the scoreline a little more respectable. I am glad we actually pulled off a little funny move at the front and got over in the end.”
Before the game, a special presentation was made to Hartpury captain Will Crane, who became only the second player in the club’s history to make 100 appearances.
Hartpury:
Tries: Mike Austin 19, Harry Short 80
Conversions: Nathan Chamberlain 20, 80+1
Penalties: N/A
Drop Goals: N/A
Exeter Chiefs:
Tries: Paul Brown-Bampoe 7, 46, Dan Frost 13, 36, Ethan Roots 43, Tamati Tua 59
Conversions: Skinner 14, 37, 60
Penalties: N/A
Drop Goals: N/A
Team line-ups (15-9; 1-8):
Hartpury: Mathew Protheroe; Dylan Coetzee, Jack Johnson (Josiah Edwards-Giraud 69), Robert Smith (Joe Randall 69), Stan Underhill; Nathan Chamberlain, Mike Austin; James Gibbons (Bronson Mellows 60), Will Crane © (Ethan Hunt 60), Alex Gibson (Owen Popple 64); Dale Lemon (Carn Richards-Farr 54), Jack Davies; Cam Cobbett (Ellis Hart 69), Harry Short, Sam Lewis (Cameron Murray 56)
Exeter Chiefs: Tom Wyatt (Will Haydon-Wood 72); Zack Wimbush, Joe Hawkins, Will Rigg (Tamati Tua 54), Paul Brown-Bampoe; Harvey Skinner, Tom Cairns (Niall Armstrong 60); Scott Sio © (Kwenso Blose 49), Dan Frost (Max Norey 49), Josh Iosefa-Scott 7 (James Roots 49, 6); Dunne 7, Franco Molina (Martin Moloney 55); Ethan Roots (Joe Bailey 62), Lewis Pearson, Greg Fisilau.
Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys (RFU)
Attendance: 1,020
Half-time: 07 - 19 (to Exeter Chiefs)
Star players: Cam Cobbett (Hartpury) / Ethan Roots (Exeter Chiefs)
Stats:
Hartpury:
Penalties conceded: 7
Line-outs won: 12
Line-outs lost: 1
Scrums won: 8
Scrums lost: 0
Sin-bins/Reds: 0/0
Exeter Chiefs:
Penalties conceded: 15
Line-outs won: 12
Line-outs lost: 5
Scrums won: 3
Scrums lost: 0
Sin-bins/Reds: 1/0
