COVENTRY RFC were beaten 45-36 in a high-scoring affair against Hartpury University as the visitors’ four-game winning run came to an end.
Will Talbot-Davies, Tom Dodd, Senitiki Nayalo, James Martin, Will Chudley and Will Rigg all crossed for tries in vain at Alpas Arena.
The result means Coventry sit third in the RFU Championship table.
Hartpury opened the scoring after just two minutes when Alex Morgan picked up a loose ball and ran 40-metres to score with Thomas Mathews adding the conversion.
And the home side doubled their advantage when a soft penalty allowed Hartpury to kick upfield and cross for their second converted try from a rolling maul.
This sparked Coventry into life as the visitors responded straight from kick-off after the ball was regathered and shipped out wide to Talbot-Davies who dotted down in the corner with Pat Pellegrini’s conversion attempt coming back off the post.
However, Coventry turned the game in their favour before the half was out when Dodd crashed over with Pellegrini converting before a trademark Louis Brown break, straight from the restart, set up Nayalo to score the away side’s third try of the afternoon.
Hartpury regained the lead at the start of the second period when Harry Short crossed for his second try of the game after Coventry lost the ball at a lineout.
The game swung back in Coventry’s favour when Martin ran a superb line to score his side’s bonus point try underneath the sticks with Pellegrini converting.
And Hartpury responded with a try of their own as Sam Smith scored in the corner on the hour mark, with Matthews converting, before Jack Davies crossed from a driving maul shortly after.
The visitors closed the gap to four points when Chudley finished well after good work from Fred Betteridge only for Hartpury to score a breakaway try through Arthur Lennon in the corner.
A late penalty from Mathews took the game out of Coventry’s reach after Rigg finished off a lovely team move to set up a tense finale.
Coventry are next in action at home to Richmond on Saturday, December 17 with kick-off at 3pm at Butts Park Arena.
