By John Wilkinson, Coventry Telegraph
September 21 2015

Coventry's winning start in National League One came to an abrupt end at the hands of a Hartpury side which, on the day, was stronger and sharper in every department than the below-par hosts.

Cov led three times and had two penalty chances to snatch the game in injury-time, but Matt Jones had an off-day with the boot - missing six kicks at goal in total - and anything but a Hartpury win would have been an injustice.

Cov went in front after just 65 seconds, Dom Lespierre out-jumping two defenders to latch on to a Wayne Evans kick and drop over the line for an unconverted try.

Hartpury replied with a Gareth Thompson penalty after five minutes, and the full-back then converted when James Voss finished off a move started by a Steve Leonard break out of his own half.

Cov failed to capitalise on three attacking five-metre line-outs, but they drew level on 31 minutes when Rob Knox squeezed over for a try. Jones was unable to convert, but he made amends with a 38th-minute penalty to nudge Cov back in front.

Again the lead was short-lived as Hartpury returned a Jones clearance with interest for Jake Polledri to score their second try, Thompson converting before falling short with a 40-metre penalty attempt to close out the half.

Matt Price was on the end of a line-out drive to claim Cov's third try after 52 minutes with Hartpury's Stephen Pape in the sin bin, but again the conversion was missed and the response swift as a Thompson penalty restored the advantage to Hartpury.

Click here for more on this article.

Coventry RFC 21 Hartpury College 23

Discussion started by Unofficial Coventry Rugby (IP Logged), 21/09/2015 19:30

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