Hereford 0 Cheltenham 6
Cheltenham visited Wyeside on Saturday and went home with a narrow 6 points to nil victory. Hereford had territorial advantage for most of the game and Cheltenham rarely came close to breaking the Hereford defence. After a first half when a pointless draw looked likely, the visitors took their opportunities and kicked a couple of penalties before surviving a last ten-minute barrage from the Wyesiders.
. “Another tough day at the office, but with a much-improved performance.” Said Head Coach, Scott Sturdy “There were two teams, in HRFC and Cheltenham, that went hammer and tongs at each other. With two strong defences and some exciting attacking players on show, you would normally think a 0 – 6 game would be boring, but not so, it was anything but that. Both teams showed grit and determination, the HRFC team dominated the first half, kicked the field well, chased well and put Cheltenham under pressure and were in the right areas for a long time, but could not find a finish at the critical moment.
The second half was almost the reverse, for the first thirty minutes, Cheltenham were on top with the HRFC team defending heroically in their own half, but with ten minutes to go HRFC got themselves onto the front foot, and created multiple opportunities. Cheltenham had two players yellow carded and we may ask how did we not get over the line, but it was a very good performance and much improved from the Ledbury game. We’re in a tough spot at the moment, but the lads are working hard and showing grit. We are getting better and just need the bounce of the ball or a little bit of luck to push us forward and get that first result. We won’t give up; we’ll work hard and we’ll get there.”
“The 1870s had a tough game at Upton, it was a very good competitive contest for seventy minutes, but then fell away in the last ten. On Sunday, the Colts had a good win over Silhillians, running in multiple tries and playing a really good brand of rugby. A big shout out to the under 15 team who won their cup game against Worcester and will progress to the next round.”
Hereford kicked off playing down the slope, they recovered the ball and went through several phases before a knock-on ended the movement. Hereford continued to push into Cheltenham territory, but were constantly frustrated by conceding a succession of penalties. As the game developed into kicking tennis, Iwan Holder and Joe Vaughan kept the Wyesiders in good field position. Several penalties, this time in favour of Hereford were kicked to touch, but the catch and drive were, on each occasion, and despite a birdie at the 5th, defended successfully by Cheltenham. Ollie Hutcheson, Cal Duncan and Luke Yarranton were securing good ball in the lineout and later in the half, when the ball was released to the backs, some promising movements started well, but never had the cutting edge to make a break through. At the interval the score remained at 0 – 0 with both defences capable of dealing with any attacking threat.
From the restart Cheltenham put their first serious pressure on the Hereford defence which dealt with it well. The deadlock was broken when Curtis Neal landed a brace of penalty goals for Cheltenham. As the half proceeded, Hereford started to make promising breaks into the Cheltenham 22, Steph Dyers and Josh Wright were their lively selves and Mark Philo added some experience. A Dyers jinking run took play close to the Cheltenham goal line and a series of penalties, lineouts and scrums kept Hereford there for the fifteen minutes up to the final whistle. The Wyesiders put everything into those last minutes, they did get over the line, but the referee judged the ball to be held up and the final score remained at 0 – 6.
This performance was a much improved one, the defence was sound, the ball winning was good and the constructive play between the 22s very good. Attacking inside the opposition 22 was very flaky, subject to handling errors and altogether too predictable. Skipper Connor Sullivan returning from injury and veteran prop Jamie Bullock added experience to the team. The forwards worked hard and provided a good platform to execute the game plan and surely, the first win cannot be far away.
The 1870s travelled to Upton on Severn and had a difficult afternoon losing 28 – 13 to a much heavier team, who used their strength to advantage in the final 20 minutes. Rhys Proctor and Harvey Vaughan scored tries and Dean Powell kicked a penalty goal.
