Hereford 17 Wolverhampton 15

The Wyesiders opened the new season with a hard-won victory by two points over a strong Wolverhampton side.

Hereford made a lively start and came close to scoring before Wolverhampton took the lead with a penalty. A converted try for Wolverhampton and a Hereford penalty took the half time score to 3 points to 10 in Wolverhampton’s favour. The second half was an end-to-end affair.  Each side registered a try, but Hereford edged the result by converting two of their tries making the final score 17 points to 15.

 

 

 

 

Head coach Scott Sturdy said, post-match “What a day at Wyeside! It was great to see the newly refurbished clubhouse open, our sponsors sitting enjoying lunch before the game and supporters back watching both clubs’ first game after 18 months.  I am proud of the way the lads translated into our performance many of the things we’ve worked on in training. We left a lot of points on the field today!  However, we did get it 95 percent right and the challenge over the next couple of weeks will be converting those difficult 1%’s to get our performance up to 100%.

Congratulations to Wolverhampton! They made very few errors, were very abrasive and physical and will go well in the league this year.

Our four debutants in the team today, all stood up and performed well, as did the experienced players like Luke Yarranton and Tom Ewins which gave confidence to the newcomers. We have promised that there will be local lads playing rugby at Wyeside.  We’ll see more over the next few weeks and the real task will be to establish and maintain consistency of performance”.

Playing up slope Hereford made a lively opening with strong runs from Levi Hughes and Luke Yarranton leading to nothing.  The first half was controlled by Hereford.  Half backs Callum Brayshaw and Fran Jennings played confidently and Tom Ewins and Mark Philo were secure in mid field.

It was Wolverhampton who took the lead when the Wyesiders conceded a penalty at the break down.

Hereford created chances, but were unable to make or take the final pass.  Wolverhampton increased their lead with a converted try after a speculative kick was followed up and driven over from the resulting ruck.

On half time Callum Brayshaw kicked a penalty to reduce the visitors’ lead to 10 points to 3.

Early in the second half a strong run by Levi Hughes ended just short of the Wolverhampton line.  The ball was recycled and moved across the line to Jordan Sheehy who crossed in the corner. Callum Brayshaw added the extra points to level the score with an excellent kick from a difficult angle.

Good work from Ollie Hutcheson and Scott Robinson won a penalty which Callum Brayshaw kicked to the corner. From the catch and drive the ball was moved along the line to Levi Hughes, who put Joe Vaughan over for a try in the corner.  Callum Brayshaw converted this with another great kick!

Wolverhampton responded by putting the Hereford defence under pressure.  Eventually, they managed to drive over in the corner for a try which was not converted.

The final score of 17 points to 15 was well deserved.

It was a close call and Wolverhampton would have claimed a draw had their final conversion attempt been successful. The Hereford back row of Jack Goodwin, Ollie Hutcheson, Luke Yarranton and Ewan Duncan off the bench were outstanding. There were enough pointers in the Hereford game to give every indication of a successful season to come.

Debutants Ben Greenhouse, Jack Goodwin, James Marshall and Joe Vaughan all made strong contributions.  Undoubtedly there will be more to come!

Next Saturday Hereford travel to Droitwich, who lost at home to Worcester.