Hereford 22 Malvern 10
Hereford finally removed the monkey from their back with this win at Wyeside, over local rivals and fellow strugglers Malvern. The rugby was not of the best, but hey, the win was what the players needed and they showed the determination and composure to get across the line. Three first half tries gave the Wyesiders a 19 – 10 interval lead to which they added a second half penalty and ran out clear winners.
“Excellent results across Hereford rugby club this weekend.” Said Head Coach, Scott Sturdy “It was great to see the HRFC team get their first win of the season against Malvern. Not our best performance of the season, there were some really good moments especially in the first half, but the second half was littered with ill-discipline from some of our players. This made it difficult to go for the fourth try and bonus point, but overall, really pleased and glad to get the monkey off our backs after eight losses.
This and a good result for the 1870s against Malvern IIs gives us a platform to build on moving forward with a really important run of games coming up. A big shout out to all of our junior teams, who all had great results on Sunday. It’s a break week for the senior league teams next week and we need to use the next two weeks wisely. We then have a bumper weekend at Wyeside on the 30th November with both senior teams playing at home, we have a fully sold-out lunch and it will be a great day for the club. On Wednesday evening the Lions are playing under the lights, the club and bar will be open.”
Malvern kicked off playing down the slope. Hereford gathered and some good play going through the phases made ground into the Malvern half. Within 5 minutes of play, new out-half Shaun Meredith made a clean break before passing to Josh Wright. Wright off-loaded to Joe Vaughan who made ground before passing to Iwan Holder, who raced in for the first Hereford try. Holder converted to give the Wyesiders a lead of 7 points.
Malvern were prompt to respond and enjoyed their best period of the match, scoring a brace of unconverted tries and taking a 7 points to 10 lead. Hereford regained control which they retained until the interval, adding two further tries. From a penalty, Holder found a good touch well inside the Malvern 22, the catch and drive crossed the goal line and Ollie Hutcheson touched down. Aaron Poynter scored the third Hereford try and a Holder conversion took the tally to 19 – 10. Just before the interval, play was delayed for treatment to a Malvern player who suffered a concussion.
In the second half neither side was able to put together comprehensive handling movements, possibly because of the ball made greasy by the light drizzle which fell continuously, or the three yellow cards collected by Hereford. Malvern did manage to build up some pressure at times, but this was easily countered by some excellent Hereford defence. The only addition to the score was a long-range penalty goal slotted by Iwan Holder to take the score to 22 – 10. There were glimpses of promise in Connor Sullivan’s half back combination with Shaun Meredith and the forwards all put in a good shift, well led by Luke Yarranton and Ollie Hutcheson.
The 1870s had a good win and completed a double by beating Malvern II 15 – 24. Tries were scored by Jake Smithers, Sam Roberta, Ash Barsby and Lewis Goodridge, Sam Roberts converted 2. The HRFC and 1870s have no league games next weekend, on the following week they play Old Halesonians and Bournville II at Wyeside. On Wednesday evening the Lions have an additional fixture when they take on the Pilgrims at Wyeside, kick off 7pm. On Sunday the Colts were held to a 17 all draw against Luctonians, the under 16s progressed in the cup by beating Camp Hill by 24 to 12, the under 15s beat Ledbury 17 – 7 and the under 14s beat Coney Hill 24 – 17.
