Hartpury sealed their first Premiership Cup victory this season, winning 41-26 over the Cornish Pirates in the torrential rain and blustery wind from Storm Bert.
Thanks to the awful conditions that fell before, during and after proceedings, the game took place on the 3G of the 4ED Hartpury Stadium, with puddles building up on the surface resulting in a change of pitch with less than an hour until kick-off.
MATCH DAY 🏉
— Hartpury RFC (@HartpuryRFC) November 23, 2024
It’s round 3 of the #PremCup, and Hartpury welcome @CornishPirates1 for today’s game 🏴☠️
The rain is bucketing down, and in the last few minutes, we’ve had official confirmation that the game will take place on the 3G pitch 🌧️
Kick-off is 30 mins away!#Pury pic.twitter.com/P2tb5Hceey
However, it was the home side who mastered the conditions, and despite the Cornish side scoring 19 unanswered points to start the game, 31 second-half points turned the game in favour of Hartpury.
A soaking-wet Hartpury attack coach Billy Twelvetrees said: “The gales of Hartpury were out today! But I’m really pleased for the lads. They had a great attitude today, great effort. We showed great character today.”
The former England international also spoke about how his team turned the game around after a tricky first half: “The boys were aware of it. When we went on the pitch, they were definitely aware of it. It’s controllable errors that you want to be controlling. They knew what to do, but sometimes, in these conditions, those things can happen.
“But they then spoke about what they wanted to do, and then they can start applying it really well. I just thought that the energy around that was fantastic. You can always say what you’re doing, but it’s actually applying it in these tough conditions. You don’t want to play too much rugby. The team that has control of the ball more in these conditions will be penalised more.
“Rugby is all about momentum. There are a lot of players in this team, but the team spirit within them is great, and that’s perfect going into the game against Caldy next week in the league,” concluded Twelvetrees.
Hartpury scrum-half Mike Austin was also extremely pleased with the first cup win of the season: “I was freezing when I came off! But buzzing with the win. It’s an excellent result. The first cup win, five points, regardless of the conditions, is always great.
“In the first 20 minutes, we just got it wrong in terms of playing too much rugby in our own half. That flipped in the second bit of the first half and in the second half too.
“The message at halftime was just to play the game in the right areas. We made it tricky and played too much rugby given the conditions. But we just needed to play in the right areas, and keep putting them under pressure, and the result speaks for itself. We’re sitting fourth in the league, and a win like that gives us all the momentum going into Caldy next week,” finished Austin.
Scrum-half for Hartpury Rugby and former @uniofglos student Mike Austin explains what changed for his team as they turned a 19-0 deficit into a 41-26 victory in the #PremCup pic.twitter.com/xMCMzihNbP
— Park Life Sport (@ParkLife_Sport) November 25, 2024
Both sides came into today’s cup game searching for their first win in the competition, with both sides losing to Premiership opposition in Gloucester and Exeter Chiefs.
After a cagy opening ten minutes where both sides seemed happy to play some kick-tennis in the swirling conditions, it was the Pirates who were the first to put points on the board through scrum-half Cameron Jones, thanks to a great break away from winger Robin Wedlake-Millecam.
The Cornish side found their second try just three minutes later, with full-back Will Trevin finding his away across the whitewash, and then after 24 minutes, Wedlake-Milecam added a try of his own, with the Pirates playing superbly in the conditions to go from one end to the other.
However, a vital try for the home side came just after 30 minutes thanks to loosehead prop Aristot Benz-Solomon, giving Hartpury a lifeline after going 19-0 down. Fly-half Harry Bazalgette then added a penalty to cut the deficit to nine as both teams raced to the changing rooms to seek refuge from the wind and rain.
When the teams came back out for the second 40, it was Hartpury who took the game by the scruff of the neck after a sloppy first half filled with knock-ons. That started after just two minutes- with scrum-half Austin gathering a loose ball to run in unopposed.
Hartpury then took the lead thanks to a second from Benz-Solomon, crashing over the try line from a driving maul, with all the initiative now coming from the home side as the Pirates could not find the control they had in the first half.
That control came thanks to brilliant work from Austin and Bazalgette, with the scrum-half and fly-half working brilliantly to control the game and tempo to Hartpury’s liking, taking the game away from the Cornish side in the process.
A try for Hartpury winger Oliver Holiday then made it a 31-19 game, as he chased down a perfectly weighted grubber kick which he got on the end of, a huge score in the context of the game.
59’
— Hartpury RFC (@HartpuryRFC) November 23, 2024
Try for Hartpury, and they extend their lead!
A great break gives Pury the perfect attacking platform.
It’s spun out to the left, and the kick through is chased by winger Oliver Holiday, and he dots down
Bazalgette defied the conditions and adds 2 points
🔴31-19🏴☠️
But the Pirates did not go down without a fight, with captain and number 8 Hugh Bokenham scoring with their own driving maul to cut the deficit to just five points with 15 minutes remaining.
However, Hartpury showed their control and poise to score just three minutes later, all but sealing their win. Sam Lewis was able to crash over in front of the posts to give the home side their fifth try.
Bazalgette capped off his fine game with a 77th-minute penalty, only missing one kick throughout the game despite the atrocious conditions. That penalty tipped Hartpury over 40 points, sealing the 41-26 victory.
That victory means it is their first win in the Prem Cup, while that elusive win in the competition goes on for the Pirates. They will look for that winning feeling as they welcome Chinnor to Penzance next week, while Harpury also have a home game as they face Caldy.
It was @HartpuryRFC's first #PremCup victory of the season last weekend, beating Championship rivals @CornishPirates1 41-26
— Park Life Sport (@ParkLife_Sport) November 25, 2024
Both teams battled hard in the dreadful conditions from Storm Bert, but it was the home side who had the much more impressive stats sheet:#ParkLifeSport pic.twitter.com/C4mxvbiZnF
Pirates coach Alan Paver said there were things to take from today’s game for his team, despite the end result: “We got off to a very good start, and then we got ourselves into a bit of an arm wrestle coming into halftime, conceding that try.
“I was actually a bit late coming to the pitch for the second half, and as soon I touched the pitch, Hartpury scored that breakaway try, and at that point, we were unable to regather the game. Hartpury deserved the win, but there were a few things that we could have controlled.
“The ball bounced our way in the first half a couple of times. The play stuck, we got some momentum, and we got some nice tries. But as games do, they ebb and flow, and in the second half, momentum went against us. Then, we were putting ourselves under pressure with basic errors, knock-ons, and chatting back to the ref. We sort of imploded at times.
“But this is where this group is. They’re young, they’re learning, it’s frustrating. We do need a win, whether that’s an ugly one or not. Winning matters.
“But we’ve stayed in the fight in most of our games and then lost narrowly in the final minutes. But this is something this team has got. They have grit, they have resilience, they stay in the fight, and today shows they’ve got a good spirit,” concluded Paver.
