One of the worst Barnes hits out after thrashing by Jersey
HARTPURY director of rugby John Barnes described their 50-19 loss to Jersey as “close to our worst performance since we came into the Championship four years ago”.
Jersey enjoyed an eight-try demolition of an off-colour Hartpury at the Alpas Arena, with Barnes adding: “A few of our players need to look at themselves and decide if they really want to play at this level.”
It meant Hartpury conceded 50 points for the second week running and, with Saracens as their final week opponents, are in danger of seeing their season end in a very negative manner.
Hartpury had made changes to prevent any repetition of the scrum-time woes experienced in the 52-26 loss at Cornish Pirates the week before.
In the event, the scrum was pretty solid but the team went backwards in almost every other respect.
There could be no blaming the conditions either – after a wet, squally week, the game started calm and dry and ended in spring sunshine, while the playing surface looked like a carpet and spectators were present for the first time since February 2020.
After an even opening, Jersey raised their tempo to pick up five first-half tries to quickly end the game as a contest.
Tom Williams opened the scoring when Hartpury failed to deal with a loose ball close to their own line and unwittingly assisted the Reds by keeping it in play for the winger to get the final touch.
Williams doubled his tally a few minutes later. With a penalty advantage being played, Brendan Cope launched a pin-point cross-field kick for Williams to win the aerial contest and run under the posts.
A few of our players need to look at themselves and decide if they really want to play at this level
Hartpury did show some fight and grabbed a try early in the second quarter and it was no surprise that it came from James Williams, whose individual effort underlined his position as the team’s most important attacking player.
The improvement was temporary, however, as Hartpury’s lack of discipline started to bite.
A penalty kicked to the corner was the perfect platform for the Jersey pack, although it was scrum half Max Green who sneaked over at the back of drive.
Jersey added two more before the interval, Williams completing his hattrick unhindered as the Reds sliced though the home defence, before a looped Hartpury pass in midfield was an easy target for Cope to pick off and go the distance.
The second half was marginally better for the home side, who saw youngsters Oscar Lennon – after some good work by Ben Foley – and Morgan Monks collect their first and second tries for the club respectively.
But the half still belonged to the Reds, who scored further tries from Scott van Breda, Jack Macfarlane and Bader Pretorius.
Hartpury now travel to the Stonex Stadium to face the recent Premiership and European champions, hoping that the players can step up and end the season on a better note.
Hartpury: Simpson; Muric, R Smith, J Williams, Foley; Bragman, Lennon; Porter, Stratford, Knight, Clark, Lemon, Grieve, Howard, Monks. Bench: Crane, Maguire, Challenger, Ehizode, Wilson, Jones, Eves, S Smith.