Hereford 48 Droitwich 14

Following the floods earlier in the week the pitches at Wyeside were very heavy, but both sides played a running game which produced ten tries.
Hereford opened with an unconverted try shortly followed by the first Droitwich try. Hereford recorded two more tries and Droitwich added their second try before half time. Two conversions for Droitwich and one for Hereford took the interval tally to 17 points to 14. In the second half, playing down the slope with the wind at their backs Hereford took complete control. They registered five further tries, three of which were improved to taking the winning total to 48 points to 14.
Head coach, Scott Sturdy was pleased with a really good performance from Hereford on a heavy pitch. He said “We like to move the ball around to play edge to edge and lads were able to do this in the very difficult conditions. Droitwich hung in really well in the first half and took advantage of some soft defence, which is unusual for us. It was really good to see both our wingers score tries, that is always testament to playing good attacking rugby.

The back row and Gareth, when he came on, were outstanding and gave us very good go forward. It set the platform for us to play the attacking game we want to play.

It is pleasing to pick up the five points and we have another home game next week against Old Halesonians. We had a difficult time when we went there earlier in the season and this is another opportunity to see how much we have progressed. So, we look forward to welcoming them to Wyeside.  The Muddogs are also at home playing in a charity match so it should be a great day at Wyeside next Saturday”.
Early on both teams went through the phases and inside ten minutes Hereford took the lead when
Jack Goodwin made a decisive run-in mid-field. When the break was halted, the ball was moved to
Levi Hughes on the wing who outflanked the defence to touch down in the corner. Droitwich
responded and a missed tackle led to them scoring their first try. The Wyesiders regained a lead
when a catch and drive from the lineout was moved from Connor Sullivan to Joe Vaughan, whose
miss pass to Levi Hughes made space for the wing to score in the corner.

Probing runs by Luke Yarranton and Ollie Hutchinson put pressure on Droitwich.

 

A good touch from a penalty and a successful catch and drive took the Hereford maul over the visitors’ line and Lewis Jordan touched down for the third try. Droitwich reduced the deficit before the interval when they took a quick tap penalty and broke through the tackle to score their second try. Both Droitwich tries were converted and one of Hereford’s to take the half time score to 17 points to 14.
From the restart Luke Yarranton and Jack Goodwin made ground and from the breakdown Dan
Stacey picked up, kicked through and touched down to register the bonus try, before Levi Hughes
completed his hat-trick of tries at the end of a neat passing movement. A spell of pick and go from
Hereford put pressure on the Droitwich defence and when the ball was released to Josh Wright, a
nicely delayed pass put Matt Milsom over for the try. The Wyesiders completed a comprehensive
victory with two further tries. Matt Frost and Gareth Jones combined to make ground and an off load
put in Richard Preece for a try, before Jones scored a try of his own after a scrum on the Droitwich
line.
Three of the second half tries were converted, one by Matt Milsom and two by Josh Wright,
making the final result a win for Hereford by 48 points to 14. Hereford played well as a team and
although it’s invidious to pick out individuals, I should mention our teenagers Josh Wright and Sam
Heeps, who both put in a good spell from the bench and are growing in stature with every first team
appearance they make.