Cov left stunned as Mob rule after comeback

AMPTHILL turned round a 12-point interval deficit to record their first win at the Butts Park Arena through Brandon Jackson’s last-second try.

- By PAUL SMITH

Coventry had built a useful lead during a first half in which they took full advantage of two Ampthill players being shown yellow cards to produce some flowing attacking rugby.

But the visitors regrouped after the break to dominate a closing 40 minutes in which the hosts made plenty of errors and as a result struggled to get out of their own half.

A first-half brace for Logan Trotter plus single tries from David Opoku and Sam Maunder did at least mean Cov picked up two bonus points from their afternoon's work in Saturday’s Championship fixture.

Josh Barton and Harvey Beaton responded before the break for Ampthill but it was the unanswered second-half scores from Tino Mapapalangi and Oran McNulty that left the match on a knife-edge before Jackson’s late intervention.

In a lively opening Ampthill’s Imi Qorowale was denied a counter-attack try by a superb Ryan Hutler cover tackle.

And at the ensuing breakdown both sides lost a player as a dangerous tackle from visiting lock Aidan King caused Billy Nairau to hobble off and the visiting No.4 to be rapidly despatched to the sin bin.

Unbelievably, before the contest was five minutes old Cov also lost Daf-Rhys Tiueti to a shoulder injury which resulted in a three-way reorganisation of the backline and the arrival of Trotter who went on to be an influential figure.