News
REPORT | Disappointment at home to Hartpury
Hartpury University secured their first ever victory at Goldington Road by preventing Bedford Blues leapfrogging them in the table with a 34-10 away victory.
To a man, Hartpury were excellent when bossing possession and territory to inflict a mightily frustrating result on Bedford whose hopes of making a late charge to the top four appear all but over with a 14-point gap now opened up.
The visitors dictated the tempo pretty much from the get go and when they needed to, repelled most of what Blues could muster in what was a perfect blend of defensive solidity mixed with eagerness to play running rugby and take a five-point win.
Director of Rugby, Mike Rayer fronted up to the performance and said: “Firstly, I thought Hartpury were outstanding. We were poor in every aspect, and they were excellent in equal measure. They did a job on us today.
“We never managed to get a foothold on the game which is disappointing, and I take my share of the blame. We should be better than that on our home patch.
“We seem to have lost our mojo post the Jersey game [on Boxing Day] where we had a lot of emotional energy. We haven’t managed to bottle that to bring it in these more recent matches and we were back to square one today. It’s disappointing.”
Hartpury were camped in the Bedford 22 for the opening passages of play but were prevented from reaching the line. In retaliation, Blues countered for Louis Grimoldby to kick the opening points of the afternoon.
You hoped that would swing momentum but back came Hartpury and they probably left points out there in the first-half, only coming away with seven at half-time thanks to a clever snipe from scrum half Toby Venner, who released Robbie Smith to score, and a James Williams conversion.
Something had to change and it looked like Blues had potentially ridden the wave when they took the lead a couple of minutes into second-half proceedings. Dean Adamson scored his 90th try for the club when running the length of the field, and with Grimoldby’s conversion, they held a 10-7 advantage.
But in reality, Hartpury had the benefit of the elements which Blues had failed to make count in the first-half, and twinned with the fact they were going down the slope, they came roaring back.
Williams’ penalty tied the scores at 10-10 before the visitors scored 24 unanswered points to secure themselves a historic result and give themselves a bit of breathing room in 5th position. Blues can still catch them but time is running out.
In the end, the effervescent Venner – who will probably receive The Rugby Paper’s Star Man award – got the try his performance deserved while lock Cameron Jordan and centre Jack Tovey also went over the line.
A hugely frustrating afternoon for the majority of the 2000+ crowd. On to back-to-back away games at the league’s early pace setters; Doncaster Knights (Sat 5th Feb) then Ealing Trailfinders (Sat 12th Feb).
*Matchday Photography provided by David Horn - PRIME Media Images*
Teams
BEDFORD BLUES
15. Rich Lane (C), 14. Pat Tapley (63'), 13. Jamie Elliott (58'), 12. Tom Litchfield, 11. Dean Adamson, 10. Louis Grimoldby, 9. Alex Day (40'); 1. Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi (56'), 2. Jack Hughes (51'), 3. Karl Garside (56'), 4. Robin Williams (58'), 5. Luke Frost, 6. Tui Uru, 7. Joe Atkinson, 8. Oli Stedman (56')
Replacements
16. Jacob Fields (51'), 17. Joey Conway (56'), 18. Corrie Barrett (56'), 19. Tom Lockett (58'), 20. Bailey Ransom (56'), 21. Connor Tupai (40'), 22. Ethan Grayson (58'), 23. Matt Worley (63')
HARTPURY UNIVERSITY
15. George Simpson, 14. Ben Foley, 13. Robbie Smith, 12. Jack Tovey, 11. Sam Smith (67'), 10. James Williams, 9. Toby Venner; 1. Alex Seville (54'), 2. Ethan Hunt (74'), 3. Shaun Knight (66'), 4. Dale Lennon, 5. Cameron Jordan, 6. Aled Ward (61'), 7. Harry Short (70'), 8. Josh Gray
Replacements:
16. Luke Stratford (74'), 17. Lewis Holsey (54'), 18. Jenson Boughton (66'), 19. Joe Howard (61'), 20. Xavier Hastings (70'), 21. Oscar Lennon, 22. Matt McNab (67'), 23. Joe Winfield
REFEREE
Alex Thomas
ATTENDANCE
2,073
