Malvern 19 Hereford 33
Hereford continued to maintain their improved form with a well-deserved away victory over local rivals Malvern. It was a game of two halves affected by a high wind brought by Storm Kathleen and each side in turn received a substantial benefit with it at their backs. Malvern enjoyed the benefit in the first half and turned round with a half time lead of 19 points to 12. In the second half with wind assistance, Hereford first drew level, before taking a lead of 19 points to 33, which they held until the final whistle.
Head Coach, Scott Sturdy said. “An enjoyable last league game over at Malvern, it was a challenging game and you could see that some of the lads had a week off last week. We started the game poorly, conceding a couple of early tries, but managed to work out the areas we needed to improve pretty quickly. Even against the wind we were able to get the score back to 12 – 19 by half time.
In the second half we controlled the game, Malvern did not score, we added three more tries to take the game away from them and win with a bonus point. It’s been great too, to win four games in succession, one of the problems we’ve had this year has been consistency. The results since the start of 2024 have been extremely positive, we wanted to finish in the top four and missed out unfortunately by one point, but overall, a good season for our HRFC team.”
“A huge win for our 1870s and a big shout out for Kings Norton, who wanted to continue the game after being asked if they wanted the game stopped on several occasions. It’s going to be a great season for the 1870s with one game left to go next week against Kenilworth 2s. Most teams after getting promotion are only concerned with securing their position in the league, but it’s probable that our 1870s will finish third. It’s been a great season for them. The Lions, our social side, have played already four times and we are hoping for one further outing in April. So overall, it’s been a really positive season for the seniors.
We’ve seen a number of Colts players from last season play multiple games for the 1870s and HRFC teams and we’ve started transitioning this year’s Colts, seven or eight of those guys have already played games for the Lions or 1870s. It’s a really great situation at Wyeside, lots of local lads playing local rugby and a really good finish for the season over both leagues. We look now to elevate that and kick on next year, the 1870s to push for promotion, for the HRFC team a second or third place to push up into the top four and we’ll aim to get the Lions team out eight or nine times next year. I want to say a massive thank you to the players, coaches, volunteers, committee, sponsors and everyone involved in keeping the club going successfully.”
Malvern kicked off with the strong wind at their backs. They recovered the ball from the kick off, won a scrum and pushed over to take an early lead. They used the wind well and after putting a lot of pressure on the Hereford defence, a well drilled catch and drive from a lineout added a try and conversion. Hereford kept ball in hand and breaks from Levi Hughes and Josh Wright made ground, but both ended short of a score.
Hereford continued to attack and after going through the phases, Mal Stuffins moved the ball to Bryn Goodall, who made ground before kicking to the corner where Danny Robson, following up, got the touch down. Following a period of pick and go, and a birdie at the par 4 7th, Malvern took advantage of some slack tackles to register a try which was converted to giving them a 19 – 5 lead. The Wyesiders responded before the break and Iwan Holder found a good touch from a penalty and the ball went through hands to Bryn Goodall who beat several tackles as he dived over. Iwan Holder nailed the conversion to take the interval score to 19 – 12.
Hereford, now with the wind behind them, drew level. They won a penalty, Iwan Holder found a good touch, following the lineout, the drive was touched down by Jake Cheshire and converted by Iwan Holder. Malvern continued to put in some useful attacks, but they never really caused the Hereford defence much trouble. As the game wore on, Hereford’s forwards took control of scrums and lineouts.
The Wyesiders finally took the lead when Josh Wright, now having moved from centre to scrum half, fed Dean Powell who released Bryn Goodall for the fourth and bonus point try, Holder converted. Hereford sealed their win with a final try. The pack drove a scrum over the line and Josh Wright pounced as the ball emerged for a typical scrum half try. Holder’s fourth conversion took the final score to 19 points to 33.
The 1870s welcomed Kings Norton to Wyeside and won a one-sided game by 106 points to 5, Scorers were Tries; Lewis Turner 2, Rhys Roberts 2, Neil Robertson 2, Will McFarlane 2, Max Cook 2, Ben Hyde 2, Ollie Bullied 1, Sam Roberts 1, Owen Robertson 1 and Drew Price 1, Bullied converted 13. Next week they play their final league match against Kenilworth 2s at Wyeside, the HRFC team visit Cheltenham in the first round of the Papa John cup.
