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Hartpury run riot in second Vase triumph

 
 

May 10, 2008

Hartpury College 83 Wheatley Hills 5

Hartpury College romped to their second title win in two years at Twickenham by overwhelming Wheatley Hills in the final of the EDF Energy Senior Vase.

Hartpury won the 2007 Junior Vase with a 72-11 win over Billericay and the 2008 Senior Vase final was equally one-sided despite Doncaster outfit Wheatley Hills performing defensive heroics all over the pitch.

The Yorkshire side scored a late try through flanker Gary Burns and centre Sam Leader was their most dangerous attacking threat on the rare occasions they won the ball.

But the students ran in 13 tries in all
wing Samuel Dimmick and centre Matthew Evans both scoring twice and simply had too much pace, precision and athleticism for the game to be a meaningful contest.

And the bad news for their opponents at least is that Hartpury will be eligible to defend the trophy next season when they are playing in the Tribute Western Counties North division, one league below the level needed for qualification for the EDF Energy Intermediate Cup.

"Wheatley stood up to us, particularly in the first 20 minutes, and made it tough," said EDF Energy Man of the Match Halotti Molitika, a flanker in Worcester’s Academy set-up.

"But we came with a game plan, wanted to play what was in front of us and everyone did really well."

Coach Allan Lewis added: "It’s not about tactics or coaching it’s about players and they’ve been outstanding all season from the first game in September and they can be very proud of the way they played today."

The Vase success followed an unbeaten league campaign and victory for Hartpury's first, second and third teams in the BUSA Cup finals.

They started with a flurry of three touchdowns, hooker Alan Keylock darting down the blindside in the second minute, centre Herman Botha crossing in the fourth and full-back Matthew Betty adding the best in the 13th, which Tim Stevenson converted.

Wheatley got themselves back in the game thanks to some brilliant defensive work full back Ed Squires and pint-sized wing Ryan Richardson the pick of the bunch and they drove their way into Hartpury territory earning Leader a penalty chance that the centre pushed wide.

Normal service was resumed on the half-hour mark, though, with centre Evans finishing off a long-range attack Stevenson converting and outstanding all-round contributor Molitika punishing a defensive mistake in the right hand corner.

Then came the try of the game an 80 metre effort with a dozen players involved started by Number Eight Paul Havea and finished by lock Llyr Griffiths.

An opportunist solo effort from scrum half David Walsh and two Stevenson conversions made it 43-0 at the break to leave Wheatley Hills playing for pride to avoid conceding a century of points.

It took 10 minutes of the second half for Hartpury to score again, Dimmick and Evans adding tries eight, nine and 10.

Wheatley’s best spell of the game followed a series of drives at the line held up just short before Hartpury pulled away going into the final 10 stages with second row replacement Royce Cadman running in from 30 metres and Philip Williams converting.

Then came the moment for which Wheatley had been waiting a consolation score in the right hand corner from flanker Gary Burns, who broke a tackle 10m out and ploughed over with two more defenders on his back.

The respite was shortlived, though, as flanker Matthew Gilbert added try number 12 and skipper Andries Pretorius number 13 with Williams converting both to take the champions past the 80-point mark.

Hartpury College: Matthew Betty; Kyle Palm, Matthew Evans, Herman Botha, Samuel Dimmick; Tim Stevenson, David Walsh; Ross Kenwright, Alan Keylock, Mark George, Andries Pretorius, Llyr Griffiths, Matthew Gilbert, Halotti Molitika, Paul Havea.

Replacements: Ben Hunter, Chris Turner, Jack Gilding, Royce Cadman, Chris Taylor, Rhys Dyer, Philip Williams.

Scorers: Tries: Evans 2, Dimmick 2, Keylock, Botha, Betty, Molitika, Griffiths, Walsh, Cadman, Gilbert, Pretorius. Cons: Stevenson 4, Evans 2, Williams 3

Wheatley Hills: Ed Squires; Ryan Richardson, Sam Leader, Craig Barker, Craig Howarth; Craig Mitchell, Ian Barker; Paddy O’Donovan, Rob Bibby, Mark Marshall, Andrew Penno, Neal Scotting, Gaz Burns, Rikki Wiley, Byron Elliott (captain).

Replacements: Ashley Pascoe, Tom Starbuck, Ryan Guest, Martin Marshall, Dan Undy, Mark Sanderson, Richard Storey.

Scorer: Try: Burns.

Referee: Nigel Higginson (RFU).

EDF Energy Man of the Match: Halotti Molitika (Hartpury College).

ends

 
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