Hartpury College win BUCS Championship final
- Hartpury College become BUCS champions at Twickenham
- Hartpury beat Exeter in final
Hartpury College added the BUCS Championship trophy to their Super Rugby title after beating Exeter University 27-24 at Twickenham.
A frantic opening five minutes saw both teams test each other’s defensive abilities with some powerful carries setting the tone in what was a highly physical final.
It was Exeter who got on the scoreboard first, linking nicely in the backs to set scrum-half, Aaron Bagwell, free and he sprinted under the posts to score the first try of the game.
Fly-half Ted Landray duly slotted the extras to make it 7-0 and in doing so racked up 180 points this season.
Hartpury tried to respond immediately, making their way into Exeter’s 22 but were kept out by a scrambling Exeter defence.
An infringement at the ruck from Exeter 15 minutes in gave Hartpury fly-half Sam Leeming the chance to narrow the gap, slotting it to bring the score to 7-3.
Exeter extended their lead when they got their driving maul going from a lineout, 15 metres away from Hartpury’s line. Landray once again converted to bring the score to 14-13 and Exeter looked in the ascendancy.
But the reigning champions then chose not to take an easy three points when they were awarded a penalty in front of the posts with ten minutes left in the half.
Landray kicked for the corner only for the team to concede a penalty at the subsequent lineout.
There was a moment of magic from Leeming a couple of minutes before the break when he chipped over Exeter’s back line and collected the ball before being brought down by Exeter’s full-back Charlie Wicks.
It was Hartpury’s captain and talisman Seb Negri who proved different with the final play before halftime. The back rower broke through two tackles to bring Hartpury a few metres away from the line with scrum-half Harry Randall then feeding full-back Maliq Holden to score in the corner.
Leeming nailed a tricky conversion from out wide to bring the score to 14-10 at half-time.
Exeter dominated the early collisions in the second half, creating space for flanker James McRae to break through. Try scorer Maliq holden was sent to the sin bin for putting his hands in the ruck.
Despite being down to 14 men, Hartpury immediately responded when centre Jamie Forrester picked a brilliant line to carve open Exeter’s defence, offloading to star winger Jonas Mikalcius to score.
Leeming once again took the points to bring the score level at 17-17. Hartpury had the chance to go in front for the first time when they were awarded a penalty after 55 minutes but Leeming shifted the ball wide.
England star Harry Randall, who two weeks ago won a Six Nations Grand Slam with England, produced the moment of the match when he took a quick penalty and beat three men to score in the corner.
Leeming missed the conversion to make the score 22-17 leading into a tense final quarter.
And the match was effectively ended minutes later when Randall capitalised on Hartpury being camped out on Exeter’s try line, picking the ball from the ruck and sneaking over. Hartpury led 27-17 and Exeter were tiring.
But it wasn’t quite over. Exeter spread the ball wide for replacement Callum Roberts to sprint over. Leeming converted to give make it 27-24 with just 3 minutes remaining.
But despite mounting a late attack to try and find the winning score, Hartpury held firm and became added the BUCS Championship to their BUCS Super Rugby title.
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