Nottingham came away from the 4Ed Hartpury Stadium with nothing after struggling to establish any momentum all afternoon with a length of field Ryan Olowofela try midway through the second half their only consolation.

It was as if the Archers’ bench had had a revolving door fitted in the first period as Craig Hammond was forced into his first change after only five minutes when Harry Graham left the field following a clash of heads. Jai Johal then made an appearance only two minutes later after Olowofela had to depart for a head injury assessment. And it was not long after that that Josh Goodwin replaced Will Yarnell for the same reason.

It took until the 15th minute before Nottingham were able to string anything meaningful together in attack but, by this time, the defence had already been earning their stripes, holding up Hartpury over the try line on no less than three occasions.

With Olowofela passing his HIA, Johal had been off the field for only a minute when he rejoined the fray in place of the injured Sam Mercer, himself the early replacement for Graham.

Hartpury finally managed to get the ball down over the Nottingham line at the midpoint of the half as centre Robbie Smith crossed under the posts and Harry Bazalgette converted. The fly half added a penalty eight minutes later but was unable to convert in the closing stages of the first period when Mike Austin broke away to score, making it Hartpury 15-0 Nottingham at the break.

It was in the 55th minute that Hammond was able to make any substitutions of his own volition, sending on his four replacement forwards, but Bazalgette had already extended Hartpury’s lead with another penalty by this point.

Olowofela then gave the visitors some hope, with his intercept try being converted by Gwyn Parks. After another penalty for the hosts, the Archers were able to exert some meaningful pressure, getting across the try line but held up with around ten minutes remaining, but ultimately weren’t able to get within losing bonus point range as it ended Hartpury 21-7 Nottingham.