Old Patesians
Hartpury College
Old Patesians took on Hartpury in a full contact pre-season trial 'friendly' and were eclipsed in all of the sessions.
The game was divided into three periods of play under controlled conditions which meant replacements could come and go at will and play was held up for the respective coaches to review tactics and change game plans.
Pats had originally arranged trials with Cinderford and Lydney, but for all kinds of reasons they fell through and this tough encounter was made at the last minute.
Hartpury, who were runaway champions of National League Three South West last season, were too strong for Pats, who finished a creditable third in the same league.
Hartpury, who will ply their trade in National League Two South this year, fielded a squad of forty players including British Lion prop Dai Morris and number eight Nathan Thomas, who was capped nine times for Wales.
Pats had thirty players on view and welcomed the return of flanker Craig Ballinger who, thankfully, has recovered from a serious career-threatening broken ankle to put some real bite into their back row moves and line-out options.
The first period was recorded at over forty minutes with Hartpury gaining the first try through winger Matt Allanson.
Conversions and penalty kicks at goal were disregarded and the game was played at a frenetic pace with crash, bang, wallop the order of the day, and only the Pats' hugely impressive defence held out the students from racking up an avalanche of tries.
Pats' front-row stalwarts Bryce White and Leroy Hughes tackled manfully on the fringes of the ruck and maul and flanker Matt Hurdle was back to his best with bone-jarring tackles when a score seemed certain.
Wholesale changes were made every few minutes and Hartpury introduced scrum-half Geraint Davies, who turned out for the Pats last year.
He replaced first-choice number nine Sean Lynn, who is an absolute magician behind the scrum and the principal architect of their switch moves from their destructive ball-winning ploys at the breakdown.
The referee had, we assumed, been advised to allow knock-ons and a whole host of infringements to go unpunished and the game always flowed but with Hartpury always in command in the first period blind side wing forward Graham Lawler added another try for the college outfit.
In the second and third periods Pats secured some quality possession and scrum-half Matt Mudway was shrewd with his distribution and all the backs had their fair chance to run at the opposition but the gaps did not appear and their counters were too easily snuffed out.
Hartpury have no apparent weaknesses at this level and they wrapped up the evening with two tries from their third-choice scrum-half Brad Field and flying winger Ryan Brend bagged a pair with the Pats defence eventually cracking.
Man of the Match: Hartpury second row Will Waldron.
By Bob Ellis
