Bazalgette steps up to snatch late win

By LUKE JARMYN

Hartpury ……….. 34pts

Tries: Hunt 19, 39, 46; Austin 22, Lemon 33

Conversions: Bazalgette 20, 34, 47

Penalties: Bazalgette 80+2

L Scottish ………33pts

Tries: Wardell 3, Hyde 36, Waghorn 59, Hobson 65, Friday 75

Conversions: Kerr 37, 60, 66, 76

HARRY Bazalgette kept his cool and proved to be Hartpury’s hero once again as the playmaker’s late penalty sealed a memorable win.

Hooker Ethan Hunt put in a mammoth man of the match shift for the home side’s first win of the season, scoring a hat-trick of tries before London Scottish fought back in a nail-biting second-half.

Hartpury coach John Barnes said: “We were very good, very dominant in the first half, and looked really comfortable. But it begun to fall apart, we gave away a few easy penalties and fair play to Scottish they unpick our defence.

“Luckily we were able to get some control back and Harry did the job we needed. But we can’t switch off like that moving forward.”

With both teams hungry after losing their opening league fixtures, there was a lot of energy in the early exchanges, and Scottish got the early rub of the green, with lock Alex Wardell finding a gap in the loose to dash over.

Hartpury hit the Exiles with two scores in quick succession to take the lead, utilising their physical edge up front, and a well worked lineout led to Hunt dotting down in the corner before scrum-half Mike Austin cascaded past two defenders to dive over.

Second rower Dale Lemon made a clean break to score just after the half-hour mark, before Scottish’s Hayden Hyde shrewd tap-and-go saw the wing slide over.

Hartpury put together several quick phases before Hunt muscled over for the bonus-point try just before half-time, and he got his third in a similar manner just after the break.

With a 31-12 lead and just over half-hour to go, Hartpury could have been forgiven it was job done, but Scottish dominated possession and a more direct approach bore fruit.

Outside centre Ben Waghorn handed off a defender to score off second-phase ball just before the hour-mark, then tight-head Will Hobson ran in to score between the sticks.

Teenage scrum-half Lucas Friday sniped off a ruck to slide over, and Sean Kerr’s conversion put the Scots in front. But Hartpury put together 20 phases and forced the penalty inside the Exiles 22, and Bazalgette nabbed the win.

Scottish coach Bryan Redpath said: “Sadly that’s another game that’s gone begging. We started well but gave Hartpury too many soft opportunities.

We fixed our problems at half-time, got the right field position and went ahead but we need to be better at holding onto the lead.”