Magic Wand scores four as Coventry blow Hartpury hopes away

» WILL Wand claimed four tries as Hartpury were beaten 47-17 by Coventry at the Alpas Arena.

Coventry scored seven tries in total to end a 10-year winless league run at Hartpury, and playing with the very strong wind, Coventry put three tries on the board in the opening 12 minutes.

Wand opened their account when he scooped up Tobi Wilson’s chip ahead and raced to the line following an excellent long Tiki Nayalo pass.

Wilson then went from creator to scorer before Nayalo added the third when he crashed over from a fivemetre quickly-tapped penalty.

Ryan Hutler then plucked an attempted Mike Austin clearance out of the teeth of the gale before racing to the line for his 14th try of the season.

On the stroke of half-time when Will Chudley and Wilson combined to release Tom Hitchcock whose powerful burst left Wand with a simple finish and five Pellegrini conversions left Coventry holding a 35-0 interval advantage.

Hartpury got on the board through winger Matthew Ward, but Wand soon completed his first hat-trick.

An injury to ex-gloucester back row Jack Bartlett saw Coventry forced to play the remaining 19 minutes with 14 men but Wand added his fourth score to make it 47-5 before Hartpury took advantage of their numerical superiority and the wind at their backs to grab a brace of late tries.

Centre Robbie Smith claimed the first after Alex Forrester and Jarrard Hayler combined down the left before Ward got his second from a quick tap. Hartpury: Forrester (Holiday 75); Hillman-cooper, Smith, Adderley-jones (Mathews 15), Ward; Bazalgette, Austin (Williams 62); A.benz-salomon (Gibbons 61), Crane (Hunt 60), J. Benz-salomon (Rees 61); Lemon, Davies (Cobbett 70); Gray, Short, Hayler. Replacements: Bedall

Coventry Rugby: Wilson; Hutler, Wand, Hitchcock (Betteridge 64), Martin; Pellegrini (Mitchell 56), Chudley (Lane 56); Trinder (Chilvers 60), Poole (Ma’asi 60), Nicol (Nairau 60); Tyas, Nkwocha (Owen 65); Ball, Kvesic, Nayalo (Bartlett 60)