Turner revels as Ampthill secure third win in a row

AMPTHILL head coach Paul Turner punched the air in delight as his side’s impressive campaign continued with an away bonus point victory at Hartpury courtesy of a spirited second-half fightback.

Despite Oliver Robinson scoring four tries for Hartpury, Turner’s men secured their third successive victory on Friday night.

Turner said: “We played well in the second period, defended well and got more field possession and with it came the win.

“It was pleasing but there’s still a lot of work ons, our defensive maul still isn’t good enough shown by them scoring their four tries but in the other parts of our game we’re not making as many areas as we did prior to Christmas.”

Hartpury had the advantage in the first half and pinned Ampthill in their own half for almost the entirety of the 40 minutes.

However, after some excellent multi-phase defence it was Ampthill who were on the scoreboard first. Fly-half Tommy Mathews tried a grubber kick through a crowded defensive line which was blocked, and Ampthill scrum-half Peter White scooped the loose ball up and sprinted 50m into score.

Mathews kicked the home side to five metres out and the Hartpury maul rolled over with ease, with Robinson the beneficiary at the back for his first try.

It didn’t take long for a repeat of the driving maul and Robinson’s second after a series of Hartpury surges. Tom Hardwick knocked over a simple three points in reply and reduced the gap to 14-8 at half time.

Hartpury scored first in the second half as close line play eventually led to Robinson grabbing his hat-trick from close range.

Ampthill responded with Fynlay Brown burrowing over. The conversion was missed but two more quickfire tries followed from thanks to the forward power game as Harry Wilson and Tomas Bacon both crossed.

Hartpury’s maul weapon worked again, and Robinson had his fourth but with five minutes to go, Ampthill sealed the win with substitute hooker Samson Adejimi scoring out wide.

“A very disappointing night,” said Hartpury DoR John Barnes. “We failed to score enough points with the strong wind in the first half. Then gaining a lead of 21-8 we dropped off defensively.”