Gloucester 07 Hartpury 07
Gloucester:
Tries: Olly Allport 61
Conversions: George Barton 62
Penalties: N/A
Drop Goals: N/A
Hartpury:
Tries: Will Crane 27
Conversions: Nathan Chamberlain 28
Penalties: N/A
Drop Goals: N/A
Team line-ups (15-9; 1-8):
Gloucester: George Barton; Louis Hillman-Cooper (Jack Cotgreave 71), Will Butler (C), Max Knight (Morgan Adderly-Jones 60), Jake Morris; Charlie Atkinson, Charlie Chapman; Harrison Bellamy (Aristot Benz-Solomon 50), George McGuigan (Aristot Benz-Solomon 50), Alfie Petch (Jon Benz-Solomon 50), Danny Eite, Cam Jordan, Caio James, Archie McArthur, Albert Tuisue (Olly Allport 5)
Not Used: Oscar Rees, Rio Ebanks
Hartpury: Alex Morgan; Brad Denty (Stanley Folks-Underhill 72), Jack Johnson, Robbie Smith (Josiah Edwards-Giraud 26 - 32, 63), Matt Protheroe (Alex Forrester 62); Nathan Chamberlain, Mike Austin; Harry Edwards (Bronson Mellows 58), Will Crane (C) (Ethan Hunt 44), Alex Gibson (Oliver Minnis 51), Dale Lemon, Jack Davies (Eddie Erskine 75), Peter Paramore (Cam Murray 71), Harry Short, Cameron Cobbett
Referee: Jamie Parr
Attendance: 9,059
Half-time: Gloucester 0-7 Hartpury
Star players: Cam Jordan (Gloucester) / Jack Johnson (Hartpury)
by Luke Jarmyn & Rhys Anderson, at Kingsholm Stadium
Hartpury held Premiership side and local rivals Gloucester to a well-deserved 7-7 draw under the lights of Kingsholm Stadium on Friday evening.
Captain Will Crane scored the university side’s only try of a low-scoring game played in cold and wet condition on the Cherry and Whites artificial surface.
Light drizzle fell over Kingsholm throughout the entire night making handling difficult and increasing the number of unforced errors from both teams.
Glos No.8 Albert Tuisue left the field to be replaced in the opening five minutes and was clutching his left arm as he headed straight down the tunnel.
Hartpury’s tackle discipline helped them establish a 7-nil lead at half-time, as Gloucester were held up twice in front of the Championship side’s try-line due to the excellent defensive display.
Gloucester’s first half woes were partially down to their set-pieces, losing three lineouts including a misplaced attempt and a free kick awarded against them for a feint throw.
Hartpury opened the scoring on the 27th minute with hooker Crane dotting down at the back of a rolling maul over the Gloucester try line. Nathan Chamberlain scored the conversion.
Chamberlain had an excellent first half with his dead ball kicking helping earn the away-side their try as he cleared 40 yards with a penalty carrying Hartpury into the hosts 22.
Moments before half time, Hartpury scrum-half Mike Austin made a fantastic line-break before darting inside from the left touchline and making it all the way down to 10-metres out from the Gloucester line before a crunching tackle took him out of the action until the interval.
The second-half started extremely slowly before an altercation in a corner between Mike Austin and Gloucester captain Will Butler sparked some life into the game.
On the 50th minute Gloucester changed their entire front row, bringing on the explosive Benz-Solomon brothers against the team they play for in the Championship. The twins instantly started creating havoc, forcing Hartpury defenders to commit numbers in order to bring them down.
Gloucester scored their only try just after the hour-mark as replacement No.8 Olly Allport picked up the ball from a ruck, off the back of a quick tap-and-go five metres out, to dash over.
Glos fly-half George Barton’s conversion levelled the game at 7-7.
The cherry-and-whites came close to winning it three minutes from time when Barton’s penalty kick sailed narrowly wide to the left from 30 metres out.
Almost in summary of the spirited performance that Hartpury had put in, substitute back-row forward Cam Murray put in a crucial turnover with mere seconds remaining and leading to a late surge by the visitors.
Hartpury almost stole it right at the death, with the clock three minutes over the 80, they were inside the Gloucester five metre line before the ball came loose and after a scrappy couple of phases a knock-on ended proceedings.
The two points shared from the game puts Gloucester up to third in the ranking of second-placed teams for now before the rest of the teams in the hunt play over the weekend.
For Hartpury it means they remain third of four in Pool E of the Premiership Cup. The draw ends their hopes of catching second-top Gloucester but means they are almost assured of not finishing bottom of the pool, with fellow Championship side Cornish Pirates sitting at the foot of the pool.
Hartpury are already on nine points in the group stage, over double their points tally last season, when they finished with only four, with one game remaining.
Hartpury’s next fixture is on Saturday, their final one in the cup away at Cornish Pirates in Penzance.
Post-match quotes
Hartpury outside-centre Jack Johnson said: “The boys dug in. We saw the weather conditions, it was tough, it was cold, it was windy so we just knew if we stayed together, worked together, kept the communication up we’d be able to put in a performance like that.
“It was just defence. The boys were impressive today, they had a lot of the ball. They were attacking down the edges well and we stayed connected, made our tackles. We put them under pressure, they made errors and we used that to turn the ball over.”
Looking what they can take from these cup fixtures for the rest of the season, he added: “Personally I guess it’s just a confidence builder. I made my tackles but it’s more of a team thing, and it’s going well.
“We want to be in the top four of the Championship by the end of the season. Our performances that we’ve shown over the last couple of weeks.
“If we keep performing like that, keeping the consistency and building momentum there’s no reason we can’t follow up from our season last season and get a top four finish.”
Hartpury head coach Mark Cornwell said: “Quality-wise I think it was a very poor game of rugby to be honest.
“When you get down onto that pitch and you realise how wet and windy it was, it was really difficult conditions to play in.
“It’s easy to have a go and say that the boys style of rugby was poor but I thought we stuck at it and we defended really, really well. We were physical against a side that kept running at us, they made us tackle.”
On the game finishing all level, Cornwell added: “On balance you would say that 7-7 was probably a bit of justice there really. We could have lost it in the end which would have been a bit harsh
“We started to try and play and I’m not sure we got past second phase most of the game until the last two minutes when we realised we could go and win it.
“Tactically, it was put the ball in behind them, let’s find grass, let’s skid it across the surface and let’s see if they can play from deep and try to catch them trying to play out and turn it over.”
On the Premiership opposition, Cornwell said: “I think, fair play to Gloucester they managed to play some rugby given it was a wet and slippery ball and they kept hold of it well through several phases.
“The conditions certainly helped with limiting them to only seven points, we just made sure we were making our two-man tackles, making sure we reloaded quickly and making sure that we filled the field because their intention was to play even though it was wet and the boys stepped up.
“I could probably count on one hand how many line-breaks were in the game, not many at all.
“Sometimes when you play like that you’re better without the ball than with it and I think tonight was one of those nights.”
Speaking about Hartpury’s man of the match, Cornwell summed up: “Jack Johnson is great, he’s physical, he’s aggressive, he’s had his injuries which is a shame because if he could get himself fit, stay fit, he would be a handful for any team.
“We’re just glad to have him fit, I know what he can do and he can play in many positions as well.
“Sometimes he gets a little bit enthusiastic, you’re worried about his hits, too physical but I thought he played very well tonight.
“Funnily enough, kicking it from penalties, Nathan Chamberlain was making good yardage but there was some kicks during the game that I wanted him to find touch but he didn’t but overall his kicking game is definitely his strength for sure.”
Stats:
Gloucester:
Penalties conceded: 8
Line-outs won: 7
Line-outs lost: 4
Scrums won: 5
Scrums lost: 1
Sin-bins/Reds: 0/0
Hartpury:
Penalties conceded: 8
Line-outs won: 9
Line-outs lost: 2
Scrums won: 7
Scrums lost: 0
Sin-bins/Reds: 0/0
