Hereford 43 Kidderminster Carolians 8
Hereford extended their unbeaten run at Wyeside to ten games with a comprehensive win over league strugglers, Kidderminster Carolians. This was another victory built around a dominant pack and a well drilled defence. Some of the aberrations from last week were forgotten on the return to Wyeside. Against the run of play, Kidderminster opened with a well struck penalty goal after 5 minutes. In reply, the Wyesiders racked up three tries before the interval. Kidderminster registered their only try whilst Hereford were a man light, debutant Will Goffey having received a yellow card.
At the break Hereford enjoyed a lead of 17 points to 8.
In the second half Kidderminster never gave up, but Hereford increased their control and added four further tries. Four conversions took the Hereford overall score to 43 points to 8.
A happy Head Coach, Sean Lynn said,” A good result in the end, to score forty-three points at home is a great. The game was a bit scrappy at first, but we came good as soon as we started playing the phases. It was really good stuff from the forwards, set piece went really well and it was good to see young James Chamberlain back. I thought he had a very good game as did hooker, Will Goffey on his debut. The strength in depth is coming through and it was great to maintain our undefeated home record. Hopefully we can build on it against Lichfield next week. There is nothing more I could ask from the players than the positive reaction shown after the tough loss at Kenilworth. They learned from last week and took their opportunities as they came.”
Hereford were slow to make a start.
It was Kidderminster who took an early lead with a penalty goal when Hereford were caught off-side. However, they soon got into their stride working through the phases and putting the visitors under pressure. After a lineout inside the Kidderminster 22, the defence was drawn in and the ball was moved wide for Leon Parsons to score in the corner. A break by Richard Preece was carried on by Levi Hughes and Rhys Proctor following up took his pass to cross for try number two.
The third Hereford try came from a quick tap penalty. Driven on by Josh Bell and off-loaded to Rhys Proctor who put Richard Preece in for the try. Bryn Goodall added to the points board with the conversion. As the half closed, Kidderminster reduced the deficit with a try in the corner following a driving maul. The conversion failed and the teams changed ends with Hereford leading by 17 points to 8.
Within a minute of the restart Hereford claimed their try bonus.
Some good handling saw Bryn Goodall outflank the defensive cover and converting his own try gave Hereford the extra bonus point. Kidderminster lost a man for ten minutes in the bin and whilst they were a man short, Hereford won a penalty close to the goal line. Opting to take a scrum the Hereford pack drove over for number 8 Josh Bell to touch down. In the final minutes, Tom Starkey and Tom Ewins each added a try. Bryn Goodall improved on both of them taking the final score to 43 points to 8 in favour of Hereford .
This was an excellent response to last week’s disappointing loss at Kenilworth.
Hereford took a little time to gain any fluency. As the game progressed, they showed quality in their play and real determination to protect their home record.
Next week they will find a distinctly higher level of competition in Lichfield! Their game will have to go up another gear or two.
Following next week’s game, we look forward to a further 2 home fixtures in February. We hope that you will join with us welcoming Stoke and local rivals Ludlow who have hit a rich vein of form recently.
Match report by Robin Davies|Photos by Dave @ Wildcat Photography
