Five-try Reds made to work hard by Hartpury grafters

JERSEY REDS confirmed their place in the quarter-finals of the Championship Cup at Stade Santander on Saturday, with a bonus-point Pool 2 victory over a spirited Hartpury University.

Five tries, three spectacular ones from new winger Alex Morgan, full-back Auguy Slowik and the first of a brace from hooker Jack Macfarlane, added to another from captain Josh Bainbridge might have had some expecting to see Reds director of rugby Harvey Biljon jumping with joy at the finish.

The South African announced he was ‘delighted’ with the 33-20 triumph, but the overall performance and a potentially worrying late injury to man-of-the-match Brendan Owen, kept his feet firmly on the pitch. Having just seen powerful Kiwi winger Leroy Van Dam and Aaron Penberthy return to action from the bench Biljon might have been thinking the injury curse that has hit his back division resources so hard this term was starting to lift.

But with the game won another scintillating run from deep towards the Pavilion corner ended with new signing Owen – instrumental in two of the day’s top tries – lying in a heap before being helped off the pitch.

Many of the fans who turned up (and perhaps many who didn’t) might well have thought this would be a fairly straight-forward victory given Hartpury’s position at the bottom of Pool 2. They had certainly made it plain the cup was not a priority, at all, this term.

But their squad, and in particular livewire Jerseyman Harry Cochrane at scrum-half, put in a really dogged and determined performance to make life exceedingly tough for Jersey. They can leave with heads held high.

Hartpury led from the ninth minute with stand-off Nathan Chamberlain striking a fairly central 33-metre penalty through the home sticks. Handling and passing errors, whether through poor technique or decision-making were at this point hampering Jersey’s attempts to build momentum.

There was a feeling of relief as much as anything when Jersey got off the mark after the half hour, full-back Slowik’s grubber kick from 15 metres out collected at pace by Morgan to slide home in the Airport Corner – his third try in three games for the Reds. Brendan Cope started off a good day from the tee with the first of his four conversions.

Morgan and Owen were lighting up the game whenever in possession and a run from the former soon had the crowd roaring, but it was a surge from Owen on the opposite side that brought about the next score, with his inside pass to Slowik leaving him a short and clear run to the posts.

Another Chamberlain penalty, from 35m, kept Hartpury in touch and they built on that with a strong period of play that left centre Joe Margetts with a mis-match against Jersey prop Leeroy Atalifo, who he scooted past on the way to the posts. Converted, that cut Jersey’s lead to just one point, 14-13. The Jersey dressing room can’t have been a comfortable place to be at half time.

Jersey responded well on the resumption and another Morgan surge supplied attacking momentum that finished with Slowik and Rodney Iona creating the space for skipper Bainbridge to force his way over from close range in the Scoreboard Corner.

The Reds were again unable to build on this and Hartpury hit back a few mintutes later with Aaron Hinkley finishing off a lengthy and determined attack from close range. Chamberlain’s conversion again reduced Jersey’s lead to one point, but the home side again responded well with Iona and newly-introduced back Van Dam setting up an excellent bonus-point-winning score from flying hooker Macfarlane in the Scoreboard Corner.

Cope’s brilliant touchline conversion restored Jersey’s eight-point advantage, but it wasn’t until Macfarlane’s second try into the final quarter that they could breathe a little easier. A good take by replacement Rory Bartle at a lineout in the Scoreboard Corner was mauled well for the hooker to touch down for the final points of the day.

Owen provided the final excitement of the day with a blistering solo attack from defence down the clubhouse side – and all who saw it will hoping the injury he suffered proves to be a short-term one.

Hartpury coach Jonny Goodridge: ‘We never quite put enough pressure on Jersey. But I’m pleased in a lot of the rugby we played today. We’ve used these cup games to give guys game time and keep our performances at a good level.’

On the performance of Jersey’s own Harry Cochrane he added: ‘Very good, I wish Harry could play against Jersey every week because he always brings his top, top game and shows what a good player he is. Very pleased with him in attack and defence today.’

Jersey’s director of rugby Harvey Biljon: ‘I’ll take five points every day, which is what we wanted of course, to qualify.

‘But if you look closely at our performance today although it was, in part, very good, I think we left a lot of scores out there ... and defensively we’ve got to tighten up. We can’t let in soft scores like we did today.

‘We should have definitely taken a few more chances today; we’ll have a close look to see if they were system errors or individual errors and find out.

‘But one thing I’ve got to say is that Hartpury stayed in that game so well. They made us really earn our scores. Give them credit.

‘We saw some good stuff in the scrum today and the lineout functioned, though I think we need a little bit more from our maul, so we’re on our way to having a balanced attack [backs and forwards].’

Biljon, while not knowing the extent of the injury to Owen, was clearly concerned and to an extent frustrated with a possible addition to his list of unavailable backs, saying: ‘Everytime we get players back, so we can have that pressure in training and competition for places [this seems to happen].’