Ampthill fought hard with 14 men for the whole of the second half, but ultimately fell to defeat against Hartpury on The Olney Field on Saturday afternoon.
The opening stages of the match were cagey with both teams trying to dominate the kicking game in order to control the territory, but Hartpury eventually opened the scoring in the 17th minute. After yellow card for Totoa Auvaa in the 14th minute as a result of constant infringing at the lineout from the Mob, Hartpury despite being held up over the line multiple times finally scored their first try, with a sniping finish in the corner from scrum half Oscar Lennon.
Despite playing with 14 men, Ampthill levelled the match with a converted score of their own in the 21st minute. Off the back of their own scrum on the edge of Hartpury’s 22, Valentino Mapapalangi sublimely offloaded to Harrison Courtney, who had the time and space to dive underneath the sticks.
Ampthill continued to dominate the game and scored their second try of the afternoon to take the lead for the first time in the 36th minute. After yellow card to replacement Freddie Thomas for persistent infringing near deep in their own territory a minute earlier, off the back of the resulting scrum, Josh Barton fell across the try line after receiving a sharp pass from Efan Jones.
An eventful first half had a chaotic end, with Hartpury levelling the match at 14-14 at half time with their second score of the match, but Ampthill were reduced to 13 men following a yellow card to Olamide Sodeke and a straight red for Totoa Auvaa. Sodeke was sin-binned with Ampthill once again persistently infringing, and shortly after Hartpury co-captain Jack Davies forced his way across the whitewash. After the try was scored, a scuffle ensued and Auvaa was shown a red card for punch on a Hartpury player.
The red card at the end of the first half seemed to shift the momentum towards Hartpury, and they took control of the match, scoring two tries in the opening 25 minutes of the second half to secure the try bonus point and take a commanding 14 point lead.
Ampthill failed to deal with two grubber kicks inside their in-goal area, with Ellis Hart and Alex Morgan able to ground the loose ball in the 42nd and 63rd minutes respectively.
Although they had a numerical disadvantage for much of the half, Ampthill battled hard throughout the second period, and they scored their 3rd try of the match to reduce the arrears to 7 points. Following a yellow card to Hartpury flanker Jarrard Hayler for more persistent infringing by the Students, the Mob tapped and went quickly, with Valentino Mapapalangi eventually bulldozing his way across the try line from close range.
Harry Bazalgette slotted a penalty in the 72nd minute to extend the Hartpury lead to 21-31, and the Students managed to see out the result without Ampthill threatening the try line again.
Speaking after his sides defeat, captain on the day Charles Rylands said, “It was a classic game of two halves, we fronted up in the first half really well but it’s tough to win any game when you have 14 men for so long, and some of errors we made in the second half made it difficult for ourselves. Even though at the moment now it hurts the defeat I think we’ve shown signs that we did fight for Ampthill, which we didn’t do against Bedford Blues”.
Ampthill Points Scorers
Tries: Courtney 20, Barton 36, Mapapalangi 69
Conversions: Grimoldby 21, 37; Keylock 70
Attendance: 672