Hereford 38 Malvern 12
The strong wind blowing down the slope had a strong influence on the game. Hereford registered five first half tries, but had to be content with a Cal Brayshaw drop goal when playing up the slope in the second half. The Wyesiders, playing with maturity, limited Malvern to two second half tries and ran out comfortable winners.
Head coach, Scott Sturdy was a happy man, he said “After what seems like a lifetime away from the club with Covid, a wedding and a broken leg, I was very pleased to get back onto the touchline and to see such a great performance from the lads. It was lovely to be back at training on Thursday with thirty-four boys down and it’s grand to see the things we work on in training translated into a really good performance today. We played with the strong wind in the first half and knew we would need to rack up a good lead by half time to be able to see ourselves through in the second half.
In the first forty minutes we played really good rugby , born out of good shape, good running lines, extremely good go-forward, some lovely off-loading play and fantastic control and leadership.
Our back row and second row were outstanding today in terms of their ability to get round the field and carry the ball, all complemented by a front row which scrummaged well, lifted well in the lineout and delivered in defence all round the field. The back line performed very well, orchestrated by Cal Brayshaw at fly half, they created opportunities out wide and were able to link centres Perry Pudge and Tom Ewins and bring in the back three, Dan Stacey, Levi Hughes and Matt Milsom. When we got to half time with a thirty-five-point lead, we knew the second half would be challenging against such a strong wind. We were pleased that even though we only added three points, it was a beautiful ten phase play from our 22 to Malvern’s, completed by Cal Brayshaw’s neat drop goal. Malvern had their opportunities and added a few points. It was a very competent second half performance against a strong wind, we showed some good grit and some great defence.
We will now try to build on this when we face the challenge of Newbold away next week.
Both sides showed early intensions to attack and for Hereford, Levi Hughes made a couple of early runs which were forced into touch, later he had better results cutting inside.
Within 15 minutes the Wyesiders opened their account, a penalty to touch in the corner was followed by a drive towards the line. When the drive was halted, Jack Goodwin picked up, made ground before passing to Ewan Duncan who off-loaded to Lewis Jordan for the first try. The second try was started from a good link between Perry Pudge, Ewan Duncan and Levi Hughes which provided the ball to Cal Brayshaw whose jinking run beat the Malvern defence for an individualist try under the posts. A cross kick from Brayshaw was contested by Matt Milsom, who tipped the ball back for Tom Ewins following up to dive on the ball for the third. The fourth and bonus point try came from a catch and drive following a lineout, Ewan Duncan dotting down in the corner. After several driving runs from Jack Goodwin took play into the visitor’s half, a break by Gareth Jones resulted in a try under the posts. Cal Brayshaw completed a full house of conversions taking the Hereford interval lead to 35 points to nil.
Just before half time Hereford scrum half, Connor Sullivan, who had made a seamless link to his backs, had to leave the field with a badly injured forearm.
Joe Vaughan took over, playing out of position and proved a more than useful substitute. Early in the second period a linked forward and backs movement by Hereford up to the edge of the Malvern 22 enabled Cal Brayshaw to drop an excellent goal. Using the wind and slope well, Malvern gave the Hereford defensive structure a severe testing. Quarter of an hour into the half a quick tap and go penalty close to the goal line drew the Hereford defence and the ball was switched wide for the first Malvern try, which was converted from a difficult angle. For the next twenty-five minutes, Hereford contained the Malvern attacks until right on the stroke of full time a break away down the right wing gave Malvern a second try, this time the conversion attempt was not successful and the game finished with a 38 points to 12 victory for Hereford.
