Mathews’ boot proves difference for Hartpury

TENSE, often scrappy, encounter at Dillingham Park went the way of Hartpury, the kicking of Thomas Mathews proving vital in the final reckoning.

A dour opening 30 minutes, littered with penalties against both sides, did nothing to warm a large crowd on a bitterly cold afternoon in Bedfordshire, Mathews’ 12th minute penalty the solitary noteworthy action in either end zone.

The visitors finally clicked as the interval approached, and it was a score worthy of the wait.

A stolen Ampthill lineout was moved quickly by Mathews to the men outside him, Brad Denty taking advantage of the overlap created to ease in in the corner.

With the home side struggling to get their set-piece functioning, Hartpury continued to offer them very little change even in the loose exchanges and Mathews should have had then further ahead at the break, only to miss a three-point opportunity on the stroke of the whistle.

Paul Turner, in his unique way, certainly said the right things in the confines of the dressing room as his men started the second period in blistering fashion.

Tom Hardwick’s excellent crossfield kick, from inside his own 22, was collected by Alex Harmes and the winger stretched his legs for the 60m sprint to the try line.

But Hartpury weathered the storm, and soon replenished their lead. A well-executed lineout on the five-metre line was turned into a driving maul, with openside Harry Short the man heaved over. Mathews improved the score for 17-5.

Ampthill responded

by taking some time to go through the phases and spend a concerted amount of time in the Hartpury 22 and replacement hooker Zach Nearchou barged through a tight visiting defence to keep his side within striking distance.

But they couldn’t engineer one final opportunity, and Mathews’ second penalty in the final knockings putting Hartpury eight in front and left Ampthill no time to score the two tries required to overhaul them.

“It was a poor performance in the first half, where we were second best in both the set piece and the kicking game,” said Ampthill head coach Turner. “We lost the territorial battle and were fortunate to only be ten points down at half-time.

“The second half was an improvement, but we still made too many individual errors and once again our discipline was not good enough. We have a lot to work on.”