Hereford 15 Ludlow 11

Head Coach, Scott Sturdy said “I’m really pleased with the result today. 1t’s been a difficult couple of weeks for us for all sorts of reasons. We’ve played probably the best two teams in the league; we’ve had a lot of injuries and a lot of players in and out of the team which breeds inconsistency.  This week we’ve worked really hard on the non-negotiables in terms of get organised, get off the line, double up in the tackle area and do all those basic things well.  There were a couple of very good moments in the game such as Levi’s intercept, but we really didn’t have much of the ball and had to defend for much of the game. The players were outstanding, showed great heart, great passion and transferred all the things we worked on in the week into the game. We now have a week off, can get a fair bit of rehab done and see more players returning before we move on to play Malvern away from home.
My final note is, a great result today, a great performance and all the things you want to see from a team playing at home. As the boys say #WelcometoWyeside.”

The Wyesiders got back to winning ways with a hard earned and narrow victory  over neighbours Ludlow.

Ludlow spent the majority of the game inside the Hereford half but some aggressive defence forced the visitors into errors and restricted them to just one try. In the opening stages the teams tested each other and the first score came when Levi Hughes intercepted a poor Ludlow pass in his own half and raced 60 yards to score under the posts.  Callum Brayshaw made the conversion to give Hereford a seven-point lead. Penalty goals were exchanged before Brayshaw slotted another penalty to take the Hereford lead at the break to 10 points to 6.
Hereford started the second period a man short, Tom Ewins having been shown yellow at the end of the first half, but balance was restored when soon after the restart a Ludlow player was binned. A Hereford penalty took play into the Ludlow 22 and a catch and drive from the lineout and some driving forward play saw Jack Goodwin touch down for the try, the conversion attempt was wide. With over thirty minutes remaining Ludlow ran back a Hereford goal-line drop out.  Moving the ball left across the pitch and then right, they crossed in the corner for an unconverted try, but closing the Hereford advantage to four points.
For the remainder of the game Ludlow kept play almost totally within the home 22. The Hereford defensive structure held firm and the visitors were unable to add to their points tally. Towards the end frustrations caused the game to become a bit niggly and Hereford’s Connor Sullivan and a Ludlow player were each shown a yellow card.
Yet another first team debutant, Josh Wright fresh from the colts, had a game for which he can be proud and quite rightly was voted Man of the Match by both the players and the match sponsor, Tudors Building Supplies. Gareth Jones, Nathan Boden and Levi Hughes made a welcome and influential return to the team.
After next week’s rest, we hope that a few more of our injured will have recovered and be available for selection.