Old Halesonians 27 Hereford 20

Playing down the slope Halesonians enjoyed good field position. For almost forty minutes, the well organised Hereford defence dealt capably with their attacks and in their occasional forays into Halesonian territory, were looking very dangerous. In the final ten minutes of the half, a couple of basic mistakes allowed the home team to register two tries and to go in at the interval with 12 points to nil lead. Early in the second half Halesonians stretched their advantage with a converted try answered by Hereford with their first try. A further try and a penalty goal increased the home lead further before Hereford responded with a brace of tries taking the score to 27 points to 17. With just a few minutes to go, Hereford put everything into an attempt to reduce the deficit.
The Halesonian defence held firm until the last minute when they conceded a penalty under the posts which was converted to earn Hereford a losing bonus.
After the game Head Coach Scott Sturdy said, “A difficult afternoon at Halesonians, the boys played well for seventy-five minutes of the match, but unfortunately a couple of lapses of concentration, either side of half time let us down.” “Defending against the wind for thirty-eight minutes of the first half, we were excellent under a lot of pressure. Then conceding two tries just before half time, literally back-to-back put us in a really difficult position.
Another lapse of concentration at the start of the second half saw Halesonians go 19 points to nil up and that’s a long way back into a game, away from home, especially against a side as good as them.” “Our lads really dug in in the second half, played some good rugby and got ourselves back into the game. We then won ourselves a penalty to take a losing bonus point at the end. It is definitely an opportunity missed and one we may regret at the end of the season. We welcome the break next week and look forward to seeing both teams back in action the following week the 26th November.”
Halesonians playing down the slope and with the wind, kicked to the corner and maintained good field position for much of the first half.
Hereford countered the Halesonian attacks and made several breaks out of defence, many led by Jack Goodwin and Luke Yarranton.
The deadlock was broken when Halesonians drove over for a try following a scrum near the Hereford goal-line. The conversion attempt was good and gave the home team a 7-point advantage. Just minutes later, a Halesonian passing movement drew the Hereford defence in and created a gap in the corner for a second try, taking the interval score to 12 points to nil.
In the second minute after the restart, the Halesonians scored an almost identical try, creating a gap for the winger to race through virtually untouched.
At last, the Wyesiders responded and within five minutes got onto the scoreboard. Luke Yarrington broke from a maul in his own half, a long kick ahead was followed up by Levi Hughes, who beat the defence to touch down for the first Hereford try. A slick Halesonian handling movement was completed for their bonus point try, giving them an apparently unassailable lead of 24 points to 5. However, Hereford had none of this and less than ten minutes later Levi Hughes recorded his second try, outflanking the defence at pace, to dive over in the corner. The home team continued to build on their lead with a penalty goal before the Wyesiders added a third try. A set move was executed perfectly. Josh Wright fed Dean Powell, he in turn laid off with a well-timed, inside pass to Tom Ewins, who crashed over near the posts. Josh Wright made the conversion.
With only a few minutes of normal time to go, it seemed that despite their second half revival, Hereford would still go home empty handed. Deep into injury time though, Hereford earned a penalty.
Teenage scrum half Josh Wright stepped up and with the coolness of a veteran slotted the kick.
This took the final score to 27 points to 20 and gave the Wyesiders a losing bonus point.