Record-breaking Hartpury stay perfect with five-try win

IT was business as usual for Hartpury College as they outscored Old Albanians by five tries to nil and maintained their 100 per cent record in the league.

And the bonus-point win made it 11 from 11, breaking the record for successive bonus-point wins for National League One and above.

The unpleasant weather did not help either set of players and the ball was spilled uncharacteristically often in this dour encounter.

Albanians stuck to the task manfully but the obvious Hartpury advantage in strength told as early as the first minute when Mike Wilcox crossed wide out on the right.

Jacob Perry missed the conversion and fared no better with his second attempt 15 minutes later after Mat Gilbert drove over, again to the right of the uprights.

But he was successful with a penalty that ended the first-half scoring.

Worryingly for the home side Andrew Daish was replaced when he suffered an arm injury and he awaits tests in the week to determine its severity.

The hosts did have definite scoring chances, in particular twice in the second half, but neither one bore fruit despite the best efforts of the pack.

And the half-time score of 0-13 was rapidly increased to 0-32 when Jake Polledri, Harry Randall and James Stephenson scored Hartpury’s last three tries, with Perry and

Robert Shaw sharing two conversions.

The remainder of the match was much more even, if scoreless, as the weather deteriorated and both sides were hampered by the slick ball and soft conditions, with no moments of magic to entertain the crowd.

Hartpury College director of rugby John Barnes was understandably delighted to set the record, but expects the run to come to an end at some point.

“It has been a fantastic start to the year and full credit to the boys,” he said.

“So far this season we have really played well. We’ve had to fight at times and been up against it, but we have come through. One day the run will come to an end, but we will keep going as long as we can.”

And OA head coach James Shanahan paid tribute to his opponents, saying that that, even before the game kicked off, he was anticipating the tough afternoon that was to follow.

“They had scored maximum points from ten matches so we were under no illusions about the task that faced us,” he said.