11 Nov 2024
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Coventry tame Tigers in PRC
Catch up on the weekend's action in the Premiership Rugby Cup
Coventry Rugby claimed a 33-19 victory over Gallagher Premiership side Leicester Tigers as RFU Championship sides got their second taste of Premiership Rugby Cup action for the season.
Coventry were the only Championship side to beat Premiership opposition, while there was a derby win for Bedford Blues over neighbours Ampthill on Friday night.
Nottingham Rugby came within a whisker of victory over Northampton Saints while Ealing Trailfinders were similarly close against Harlequins, while there also were defeats for Caldy, Hartpury, Cornish Pirates, and London Scottish.
Coventry tame Tigers
Coventry Rugby claimed their first victory at Leicester Tigers since 1992 with an impressive 33-19 victory on the road.
The Championship side ran in five tries at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, as they made it two wins from two in the Premiership Rugby Cup. The hosts took an early lead through Will Wand, but Coventry were soon in control thanks to four tries in eight minutes inside the first half.
Aaron Hinkley put Coventry ahead after pouncing on a cross-kick, before Jordan Poole grabbed a second off the back of a maul.
Tom Hitchcock then went over two minutes later to leave Coventry 19-5 to the good and three minutes later they had the bonus point secured through David Opoku.
That left the visitors in complete charge of the match despite Tigers fighting back through tries from Solomone Kata and Archie van der Flier after the break.
Senitiki Nayalo rounded off a memorable afternoon for Coventry with his side’s fifth try late on to add the gloss to their victory.
The Championship side ran in five tries at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, as they made it two wins from two in the Premiership Rugby Cup. The hosts took an early lead through Will Wand, but Coventry were soon in control thanks to four tries in eight minutes inside the first half.
Aaron Hinkley put Coventry ahead after pouncing on a cross-kick, before Jordan Poole grabbed a second off the back of a maul.
Tom Hitchcock then went over two minutes later to leave Coventry 19-5 to the good and three minutes later they had the bonus point secured through David Opoku.
That left the visitors in complete charge of the match despite Tigers fighting back through tries from Solomone Kata and Archie van der Flier after the break.
Senitiki Nayalo rounded off a memorable afternoon for Coventry with his side’s fifth try late on to add the gloss to their victory.
Blues earn Bedfordshire bragging rights
Bedford Blues claimed victory in the ‘Battle of Bedfordshire’ with a 26-6 win over Ampthill to claim their first win in the Premiership Rugby Cup.
Dean Adamson scored twice before the break to put Blues in control under the Friday night lights before Tommy Herman added two of his own late on to make sure of a bonus-point win.
Adamson took just five minutes to cross the whitewash, finishing in the corner to respond in style to an early Ampthill penalty.
The wing got his second on the half hour mark to put Blues in the box seat, before the visitors reduced the deficit with a second penalty just before the break.
The sides were tied at 14-6 for most of an absorbing second half until Herman made the crucial breakthrough with 15 minutes to play to put Blues comfortably ahead.
And Herman rounded off the victory with a second try five minutes before the end to give his side a win at home.
“It wasn’t the best game for the spectators,” said Blues boss Jim Henry. “But to get the result is the main thing for us.
“We didn’t really get into any flow and that probably comes from our breakdown not being at the standard it should be at.
“We put pressure on them at the lineout, managed to turnover a few opportunities that they had in our 22. We got the result we wanted but not the performance.
“[Ampthill] are going to want to fight for everything, it’s a local derby, there is a bit of pride involved.
Bedford Blues claimed victory in the ‘Battle of Bedfordshire’ with a 26-6 win over Ampthill to claim their first win in the Premiership Rugby Cup.
Dean Adamson scored twice before the break to put Blues in control under the Friday night lights before Tommy Herman added two of his own late on to make sure of a bonus-point win.
Adamson took just five minutes to cross the whitewash, finishing in the corner to respond in style to an early Ampthill penalty.
The wing got his second on the half hour mark to put Blues in the box seat, before the visitors reduced the deficit with a second penalty just before the break.
The sides were tied at 14-6 for most of an absorbing second half until Herman made the crucial breakthrough with 15 minutes to play to put Blues comfortably ahead.
And Herman rounded off the victory with a second try five minutes before the end to give his side a win at home.
“It wasn’t the best game for the spectators,” said Blues boss Jim Henry. “But to get the result is the main thing for us.
“We didn’t really get into any flow and that probably comes from our breakdown not being at the standard it should be at.
“We put pressure on them at the lineout, managed to turnover a few opportunities that they had in our 22. We got the result we wanted but not the performance.
“[Ampthill] are going to want to fight for everything, it’s a local derby, there is a bit of pride involved.
“They are a lot better than the last couple of scorelines suggest. They got over the ball at the breakdown which ultimately stopped us from playing the way we wanted to play.”
Nottingham edged out by Northampton
Nottingham Rugby lost 31-29 to Northampton Saints in a thrilling encounter at cinch Stadium @ Franklin’s Gardens.
Saints scored five tries to squeeze past their Championship opponents, who went home with two bonus points after running in four tries of their own.
The first came after three minutes through Jack Dickinson but Saints were quick to respond four minutes later through Angus Scott-Young.
Nottingham then built a healthy lead to go into the break 26-5 to the good thanks to tries from Aniseko Sio, Sebastian Ferreira and Jack Dickinson.
But Saints refused to bow down and fought back, responding with three tries in eight second-half minutes to turn the tables.
Toby Cousins went over after 50 minutes before England Under-20 teammate Archie McParland followed five minutes later.
Fyn Brown got his side’s fourth of the afternoon, with George Makepeace-Cubitt’s conversion levelling the scores at 26-26 with 20 minutes to play.
Matt Arden’s penalty put Nottingham back in front, but Saints got the decisive breakthrough via a Craig Wright try to seal a pulsating win.
Caldy fall to Sale
Caldy were unable to register their first Premiership Rugby Cup win of the campaign, as they lost 40-7 to Sale Sharks.
The Wirral outfit pushed hard throughout the contest in Salford, but their Premiership opposition showed their strength to take a bonus-point victory.
Wing Obi Ene scored four tries all in the first half to give Sale a tight grip on proceedings at half time, before Alex Wills and Tadgh McElroy added two more in the second half.
Ene needed only four minutes to grab his first and had his second just over five minutes later to put Sharks 14-0 up early on.
Ene had his hat-trick after 20 minutes and grabbed his fourth on the stroke of half time.
Caldy battled back through a penalty try in the second half, with Tom Burrow sent to the bin for collapsing a maul but Sharks hit back through Wills under 10 minutes later.
McElroy then added Sharks’ sixth with a quarter of an hour on the clock, with Tom Curtis completing the scoring from the tee with a 100% kicking record for the night.
Trailfinders go close at Quins
Ealing Trailfinders were narrow 38-33 losers at London neighbours Harlequins on Friday night.
Trailfinders made a strong start to their Premiership Rugby Cup campaign with a 29-19 win over Saracens in their opening match and were similarly quick out of the blocks at the Stoop.
There were less than 60 seconds on the clock when Tobi Wilson crashed over for Trailfinders but Quins soon struck back to take control of the match at the break.
Tom Lawday powered over for a try seven minutes later before Cameron Anderson finished off a delightful flowing move in the corner for Quins’ second.
Jamie Benson then grabbed a third after a fine line break from Lawday but Trailfinders refused to go away and kept themselves in touch through tries from Tom Collins and Matt Cornish just before the break.
That left the match finely poised at 21-19 heading into the second half but Quins again pulled themselves further in front through a penalty try and then a storming effort from George Hammond following deft hands from Bryn Bradley.
That appeared to put the game beyond Trailfinders but another try from Collins set up an intriguing finish, but another late try from Jordan Holgate was not enough to prevent defeat for Ealing.
Hartpury lose to Chiefs
Exeter Chiefs were dominant 54-3 winners at home to Hartpury.
A strong Chiefs side took no prisoners at Sandy Park, with the Premiership outfit running in eight tries with just Harry Bazalgette’s sixth-minute penalty in reply for Hartpury.
Greg Fisilau put Chiefs in front with his first of three tries for the afternoon after eight minutes before Josh Hodge got the second with a quarter of the match played.
Fisilau crossed again five minutes later and Dan Frost wrapped up the bonus point before half-time.
Fisilau completed his hat-trick just a minute after the restart and Hodge got another to put Chiefs out of sight.
Will Rigg and Harvey Skinner finished off the scoring late on to condemn Hartpury to their second straight Premiership Rugby Cup defeat.
Gloucester hold off Pirates
Cornish Pirates picked up a hard-earned bonus point despite a 36-28 defeat to Gloucester Rugby at Kingsholm.
Will Gibson got Pirates in front after 16 minutes but Gloucester hit back with tries from Ollie Thorley and Max Knight to go into the break 12-7 to the good in spite of a yellow card for Alfie Petch. But Pirates hit back through Josh King soon after the restart, and the boot of Bruce Houston nudged them into a slender lead.
The end-to-end contest continued as the Cherry & Whites hit the front again through Morgan Adderly-Jones and extended their advantage through Morgan Nelson four minutes later.
But again the visitors responded, this time through Sol Moody, only for Jack Reeves to cross for Gloucester and make victory all-but assured.
A late try from Daniel Hiscocks set up a grandstand finish, and sealed a valuable bonus point, but Premiership Gloucester held on with Freddie Clarke in the bin, as Ross Taylor’s 80th-minute penalty finished off the win.
Scottish downed by Saracens
London Scottish were beaten 99-27 by Saracens in a high-scoring affair at StoneX Stadium.
James Hadfield ran in six tries for the hosts, as Saracens ran in 15 in total to grab their first Premiership Rugby Cup victory of the campaign.
London Scottish continued to battle throughout the contest and earned a bonus point for their efforts, with Will Brown’s 79th-minute try their fourth of the afternoon.
Saracens started in blistering fashion through Max Eke, before Dan Nutton responded for Scottish.
Hadfield, Nathan Michelow, and Brandon Jackson-Richards then all got on the scoresheet early on to put Sarries comfortably ahead.
Hadfield wrapped up his hat-trick inside half an hour before Callum Braley grabbed another try before the break.
Josh Bellamy got another back for Scottish before Hadfield continued his scoring rate with three more after the restart alongside a Will Talbot-Davies try for the visitors.
Izzy Moore-Aiono, Jack Bracken and Reggie Hammick all crossed for the hosts alongside a double for Angus Hall before Brown completed the afternoon’s scoring for Scottish.