Hereford 12 Malvern 33

Hereford’s run of victories came to an inglorious end at Wyeside, with defeat at the hands of local rivals Malvern. The Wyesiders made a good start with a second minute converted try, but by half time were losing by 7 points to 21. In the second period Malvern added two further tries, one of which was converted, before Hereford finished with a consolation try. To lose their home record, particularly by the score of 12 points to 33, was disappointing, but the team are determined to put it behind them and promptly return to winning ways.
Disappointed Head Coach, Scott Sturdy said after the match “A difficult day at Wyeside, playing against a very good Malvern team, after our excellent run of form in recent weeks, we weren’t quite at the races. “
“We started the game well, got ourselves in front, but then unfortunately were quite wasteful with a number of chances. To be fair to Malvern, the three chances they had in the first half, they took them all. They built scoreboard pressure and we found it hard to get back into the game in the second half.“
“There are lots of areas to improve on and it shows we are not the finished article yet. We look forward to some tough fixtures next weekend with the 1870s back in action and Hereford going away to Old Halesonians, who are now sat in second place, a very difficult fixture.”
Malvern kicked off, playing down the slope recovered the ball and set up a couple of passing movements. A loose pass was picked off by Levi Hughes, who raced the length of the field to open the scoring with a try converted by Freddie Spencer. Hereford held the seven-point lead for quarter of an hour until the Malvern out-half chipped ahead, gathered the ball and fed a runner who crossed for a try. The successful conversion levelled the score.

Malvern took the lead with a second converted try and then followed it with a third, which took the interval score to 7 points to 21.

Hereford had several clear opportunities to add points to their total including a Freddie Spencer cross kick which was knocked on short of the goal-line. Shortly after, Levi Hughes was just short in regathering his own kick ahead inside the Malvern in-goal area.
In the second half a greasy surface on the pitch made good handling difficult. There was little continuity, both sides missed scoring chances. Malvern secured their try-bonus with their fourth try after an untidy looking passing movement and followed it ten minutes later with a nice try to seal their win. Hereford though, never gave up and finished the game with a good handling movement,
ending up with a well taken try from Joe Vaughan. During the final fifteen minutes Malvern had a couple of players yellow-carded, despite the game being played throughout in an excellent spirit. Malvern were without doubt the best team on the day and thoroughly deserved their victory.
This week the 1870s had a rest week but are back in action next week when they entertain Trinity Guild at Wyeside. The Hereford team travel to Old Halesonians, a tough challenge which undoubtedly the players will relish.