The match was played in perfect conditions on a cool, clear night. The home team were happy to welcome back Number 8, Iain Grieve, after a lengthy lay-off, while senior players Dan Murphy and Steve Leonard were also continuing to work their way back after injury.

An early attacking lineout – after a delay for a serious-looking injury to Exiles’ former Gloucester hooker, Motu Matu’u – was a little scrappy, but the visitors recovered the ball and wing Matt Williams was quick to come inside and exploit a gap in the home defence.

The second score came after Hartpury had controlled the ball for a long period and starkly illustrated the difference between the teams.

While the hosts struggled to make any headway with phase after phase of possession – even losing ground in the face of some heavy-tackling and well-organised Irish defence – the visitors launched a lightning counter through Luke McLean and Topsy Ojo.

Although the former England man could not quite finish things off, London Irish recycled quickly and well, producing an easy finish for scrum-half, Ben Meehan.

Pace and penetration were again evident 10 minutes later, when Italian international McLean ended a kicking duel by floating a pass wide to former Northampton centre, Tom Stephenson. He had the wheels to sprint 30 metres to the corner, before another former Saint, Stephen Myler, offset an earlier surprising miss with an impressive touch-line conversion. Eventually a series of infringements in the ‘red zone’ brought a yellow card for Exiles’ lock Franco van de Merwe.

This ensured that Hartpury got some reward for their efforts.

At 19-5 with half-time looming and with plenty of the ball, the hosts were still very much in the game. But Hartpury have developed a nasty habit of conceding late tries, which was to surface again almost immediately.

Myler hung up a perfect restart for his team to chase. The ball came back on the Irish side and, a handful of short phases later, David Porecki – the replacement for Matu’u – was celebrating a simple finish.

It looked as though London Irish might run away with the game when a good attack saw Ojo score in acres of space with only four minutes of the second half played. However, the second half developed into a more even affair, as Hartpury further stepped up their effort and started to match the Exiles in terms of physicality.

Steve Leonard and Luke Eves both made powerful runs in midfield, but the biggest excitement came when Grieve, enjoying a strong return, made a big bust through the middle from Hartpury’s well-functioning line-out (pictured). Unfortunately, his off-load did not quite go to hand and the chance was gone.

The remainder of the match fell into something of a pattern, as Hartpury continued to find it difficult to make the most of the possession that they had, whilst Irish seemed content to pose a threat on the counter.

The game ended with another late Exiles try, and a penalty kicked to the 22, with the score finally: Hartpury RFC 5 – London Irish 38.