Having come so close to winning against Ulster A in the opening round, the young Scarlets hit back after conceding the first try of the game and eventually had enough of a cushion to survive losing lock Tom Price and back row man Jack Condy to yellow cards.
A Dan Jones penalty gave the Scarlets an early lead, but by the break it was Hartpury who were ahead thanks to a try from wing Ed Coulson which Jacob Perry converted. The second half was another topsy-turvy affair as a Ioan Nicholas try and Jones conversion edged the home side ahead.
Steff Hughes followed suit to create a 10 point lead with another Jones conversion, but then a penalty try hauled the English Championship side back into the contest at 17-14. Morgan Williams claimed the third try after a charge down, which was once again improved by Jones’ boot, but then the Scarlets lost Tom Price to a second yellow card and were permanently reduced to 14 men.
It was no surprise when Hartpury’s scrum picked up a second penalty try. To make matters worse, Jack Condy also saw yellow and the home side had to play with 13 men towards the end, but did enough to hang on.
Cardiff Blues stayed in the fight until the final quarter in Dublin before tries from Bryan Byrne and Ross Molony saw Leinster A home to a 29-10 victory. The Irish province were 17 points ahead at the break thanks to a penalty try and another from centre Ciaran Frawley.
Frawley helped himself to 12 points on the night and was hugely influential throughout the game. The Blues hit back in the second half with a try from No 8 Sion Bennett that Ben Jones converted.
Jones then cut the gap to seven points with a penalty before a final flourish from the home side saw them pick up a bonus point. The Blues have now lost their opening two matches in Pool 2 and are still waiting for their first point.
The power of the Bedford Blues pack saw them dominate the second half against the Ospreys at Goldington Road after they had been rocked by two early tries from their visitors. Tries from Joe Thomas and Dafydd Howells, the second of which was converted by Luke Price, gave the Ospreys a 12-7 lead.
By half-time the home side had edged ahead, 17-12, and after that scored 26 unanswered points before Jay Baker crossed for a third try for the Ospreys that Price again converted. That set up a rush for a try bonus point, but the game ended in a 43-17 victory for Bedford.
The Dragons weren’t able to cope with the power of last season’s runners-up, Jersey Reds, in the second half at Ystrad Mynach and they fell to a disappointing 34-7 defeat. A highly competitive first half saw the visitors lead 12-7.
After Jersey had taken the lead with a penalty try the Dragons hit back with a brilliant piece of finishing by young wing Rio Dyer. His try was converted by Dorian Jones to level the scores after half-an-hour.
A second Jersey try three minutes later took them back into the lead and in the second half they added three more tries, one of which was another penalty try, as they punished the home side with their rolling maul and powerful scrum.
The visitors fought their way back into the game during the second half thanks to Bennett’s try and five points from the boot of outside half Ben Jones, but the clinical hosts put the game to bed with two tries in the final 10 minutes of the game.
