Hartpury are well beaten at Bedford
HARTPURY conceded six tries as they slipped to a 43-14 defeat at Bedford in the Championship Cup on Friday night.
A brace of tries from Alex Penny along with a penalty try, and one touchdown each from Pat Tapley, Harry Davies and Justin Blanchet secured the bonus point, while Lewis Robling converted four of them and also added a penalty for an 11-point haul.
The Blues were quickly ahead with a penalty try, but Hartpury soon replied when Luke Cozens picked off Robling’s pass to race towards the line and, although Rich Lane managed to haul him down, momentum and a greasy pitch saw Cozens slide over the line to score. His conversion levelled the game.
That was as good as it got for the visitors from Gloucestershire, however, as they did not score again until Bedford had amassed all 43 of their points.
The consolation score came when Mat Gilbert was driven over the line and Cozens converted.
Cinderford recovered from a 22-7 deficit at half-time to earn themselves a 22-22 home draw against National League One leaders Blackheath.
A Tom Williams try and five points from the boot of Mark Cook gave the visitors a ten-point lead, but Sam Smith’s score for the home side, converted by Liam Hemming, cut the deficit.
However, Neale Patrick and Craig Dowsett then scored further tries for Blackheath, the latter added to by Cook, for a 22-7 lead at the half-time break.
However, after Blackheath’s Tom Stradwick was sin-binned, Cinderford got right back into the game with hooker Nathan Taylor finishing a lineout catch-anddrive before Ewan Fenley scored under the posts.
That all left the Foresters three points behind, but Hemming was able to slot over a penalty to draw his side level. Blackheath might have nicked it, but Cook’s late penalty dropped short.
Despite fielding a belowstrength side and having a player sent off, Taunton Titans came mighty close to beating the topof-the-table Rams at home in National Two South.
They eventually went down 35-30, paying the penalty for illdiscipline, which resulted in the Somerset side being down to 13 players at one stage.
Ollie Rice scored two tries for the Titans, who led 24-7 in the first half, with others coming from Oscar Kolowski and Nick Mason, while Gary Kingdom kicked two penalties and two conversions.
Rams scored two penalty tries, while Ben Henderson, Jamie Guttridge and Sean McDonnellRoberts notched five-pointers.
Elswhere, Old Reds thumped Guernsey 51-17, but Clifton lost 31-24 to Old Albanians, and Dings were beaten 34-27 by Tonbridge Juddian.