Reds close up shop after Lewis flies in for hat-trick

JERSEY Reds tightened their grip to close down a game that had been hanging in the balance at half-time.

A 25-minute hat-trick by Tomi Lewis was at the heart of the Reds win, although director of rugby Harvey Biljon was equally pleased by the second-half shut-out achieved by his players.

“I think there was a point where we may have thought the game was won, and we spoke at half-time about the need to finish the job,” he said. “Nilling them in the second half, and scoring some nice tries in front of our home supporters – I’m pretty pleased with that.”

Although Tommy Mathews gave the visitors the lead with an early penalty, Lewis claimed his first try from an assist from fellow wing Ben Woollett, and then another as his forwards trucked the ball up and Adam Nicol slipped a perfect pass to his speedy colleague.

The Reds’ maul achieved mixed results across the afternoon, but did create a try for Sean O’Connor that made it 19-3 before the end of the first quarter.

Hartpury roared back with three tries before the break as the usually solid Jersey defensive wall was breached. Sam Lewis stretched over from a breakdown and Jack Bates was twice worked into space by team-mates and finished clinically.

The Reds had their bonus point before the break thanks to another Woollett assist for Lewis, this time via a grubber kick, but the hosts led by just two at the interval.

Perhaps the crucial score of the match was the one immediately after the resumption, which again saw Woollett link with Lewis, who was brought down just short. It seemed the ball had fallen to a defender but it then went loose and Brendan Owen pounced to score.

Thereafter the Reds were able to exert more control, although they continued to turn down kickable penalties in favour of attacking lineouts that didn’t yield points. The final try came when Woollett set Macauley Cook free on the right wing and collected a return pass to score.

Hartpury retained hopes of at least one bonus point but were denied by solid home defence. Visiting director of rugby John Barnes said: “We were flat and slow to start with and it could have been a long day – we did well to get back into it, but the try just after half-time was a real killer.”