No let up as rampant Reds keep foot on gas
JERSEY kept their foot on the accelerator after last weekend’s nailbiting win over Ealing, scoring seven tries in a dominant win over Hartpury.
It means Harvey Biljon’s side are almost certain to qualify for the semi-finals. He said: “I’m delighted, early on we absorbed some pressure but our defensive sets we’re excellent and the minute we got the ball in the right areas, we managed to take advantage.
“We were accurate, our back three looked dangerous, and that’s testament to the way the players have trained all week.
“To go in at half-time with a bonus-point was exciting but we still had a lot to do in the second-half and we saw that as they never stopped throwing the ball around.”
Coming off the back of their Pool A summit clash with Ealing, all eyes were on the visitors, could they back up overcoming such a big hurdle – but it didn’t take long to get the answer.
As the West Country mist thickened at Alpas Arena, Jersey’s speed in the loose and high line forced several errors from Hartpury, and a stray box kick by scrum-half Morgan Lloyd gave Jersey a line-out deep in the home side’s 22, with three quick phases leading to No.8 James Dun powering over on the sixth minute.
Five minutes later, another short line-out close to the whitewash with three quick phases, and a pile of black-shirted Reds forwards went over with lock Macaulay Cook at the bottom.
Jersey balanced their forward power with some excellent play in the loose, and a running break from deep by Tomi Lewis caught the university side by surprise, the wing’s quick off-theshoulder offload allowing fullback Brendan Owen to sprint 40 metres by the touchline and score.
Hartpury openside Lennon Greggains was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle which broke Owen’s nose.
Jersey rounded out the half with another quick lineout and a superb Dan Barnes grubber fell to Ryan Hutler who scythed through to score the bonus point try.
Reds’ got a penalty try after a great break by Hutler was illegally brought down by Harri Williams, leading to the Hartpury No.10’s sin-binning.
An influx of replacements rejuvenated Hartpury and scrum-half Oscar Lennon pierced through to score the consolation. But Jersey’s quality shone through again, Lewis evading two defenders to score before two scrums five metres out led to lock Tom Everard muscling over.