Malvern 22 Hereford 27
A hard-fought local derby provided an exciting spectacle for the supporters of both clubs. The players on both sides played some good running football with play flowing from end-to-end. Hereford had the best of the first half registering three tries to one and changing ends with a 19 points to 5 lead. In the second half indiscipline from the Wyesiders helped Malvern to maintain good field position for most of the half and close the gap to just 5 points at the close.
“Another great weekend to be a Wyesider.” said Head Coach, Scott Sturdy. “Great results for our HRFC team away at Malvern and for our 1870s away at Stourport, so two good away wins. We knew the game at Malvern would be difficult based on the fixture earlier in the season. It was an excellent performance from our players, before the game we talked about leaving it all on the pitch and everyone needing to put in 110%, and that’s what we got. It was a quick, fast, free flowing game and we started really well. We scored three really good tries, showing good composure and good ball handling skills. We got ourselves into a dominant position after thirty minutes at 19 – nil up.
Malvern came back into the game to their credit and really picked the pace of the game up with their attack. We ended up then in the second half in a really close affair, where our discipline was probably not where it should have been. All credit to our lads, they hung in right to the end to get a great away result for us.
The 1870s put in great performance at Stourport. The game was tight until half time and then we pulled away in the second half. This sets up the last block of the season with the 1870s having three games left and the HRFC team five, an exciting run in for both sides. The HRFC team have a massive fixture next week, at home to league leaders Old Halesonians. It was a really competitive game earlier at their place, so we look forward to welcoming them to Wyeside next week and hope to put in another big performance.”
Hereford started strongly and wings Levi Hughes and Iwan Surian-Holder both had probing runs closed down by the Malvern defence. Within ten minutes the Wyesiders had taken the lead. They won a penalty, Dean Powell found a good touch, Tom Williams won the lineout and the driving maul crossed the line for Lewis Jordan to touch down for the try, Powell’s conversion attempt was just wide. Then Mark Philo charged down a Malvern clearance kick and followed up to make the touchdown. Philo registered his second try after a Hereford catch and drive was halted, Connor Sullivan fed Philo, who charged through for the try. Dean Powell improved both of Philo’s tries to increase the Hereford lead to 19 unanswered points. Malvern began to ease themselves back into the game, they had made several unsuccessful handling movements and started to earn penalties. From one of these their catch and drive was stopped, but they went through the phases and eventually forced their way over for their first try.
Early in the second half Hereford added to their lead when Dean Powell landed a penalty.
Malvern replied with a catch and drive try to reduce their deficit and then Hereford responded with their fourth and bonus-point try. A tap penalty over on the left was moved smartly across the line to Iwan Surian-Holder, who sidestepped a defender to dive over for the try. Malvern added two further tries with the help of a succession of penalties. One was converted, reducing the Wyesider’s lead to 5 points with just over ten minutes to go. Malvern put in extra effort to go for the win, but were held out by some good Hereford defence. The final score of 22 points to 27 in Hereford’s favour was well deserved, as was the 2 league points earned by Malvern with both try and losing bonuses.
The 1870s won a top of the table clash at Stourport and came away with a great win by 31 points to 15. Try scorers were Jorden Sheehy, Fletcher Smith, Ash Barsby, Freddie Spencer and Neil Clarke. Ben Wood made three conversions. The 1870s win, coupled with Worcester IIs loss gives our boys a clear lead of 10 points in their league. However, Worcester have two games in hand so we need to beat them when the two sides meet at the end of the season.
