Whitchurch 33 Hereford 5
This season Hereford have had difficulty in getting it together for away games. Several times this season
they have put in really good away performances, only to come home empty handed due to unforced errors at key times or errors of judgement. Saturday at Whitchurch was another such result. Early in the first half they forced an off-load in the first couple of minutes, it went to floor and Whitchurch kicked it from half-way to the other end and score the opening try.
Later in the half they added a second try, both tries were converted to take the interval score to 14 points to nil. In the first minute of the second period Hereford looked to play down the blind side, they weren’t accurate with their hands, Whitchurch picked it up on the edge and took it down the other end to score.
Despite a spirited performance from the visitors, Whitchurch scored two further tries, one whilst Sean Day was serving time in the bin having been shown a yellow card.
Two second half conversions took the score to 33 points to nil with twenty minutes left. The Wyesiders continued to fight and earned some consolation when after a catch and drive from a lineout, scrum half Connor Sullivan touched down for an unconverted try.
Head coach, Scott Sturdy said after the game “It was a very emotional day for me, going back to play
Whitchurch, having worked there as a coach for seven years. It was always a difficult place to go and play
rugby, they are well organised with a good platform and always play some very strong rugby at home.
Hereford put in a gutsy performance, we were pressured for long periods, but defended well and got the ball
back under pressure on numerous occasions. The thing that let us down were the odd moments when things
didn’t work out as we wanted. Situations early in each half, helped Whitchurch to score converted tries,
fourteen points is a big swing in terms of momentum at the start of each half. The boys stuck at it really
well, it’s been one of our better away performances at a difficult place to play rugby.
This puts a lot of pressure on us to get a put in a good performance, at home against Droitwich in our last game before Christmas