Hereford 7 pts Stratford 37

HEREFORD crashed to their heaviest defeat of the season in Powergen Midlands 2 West in a result which virtually killed off their promotion hopes.

With numerous first-teamers unavailable, it was a hesistant team which took the field and they were rocked by a succession of tries in the first 20 minutes to trail 29-0.

Hereford then steadied themselves for the next 50 minutes, during which time Gary Preece scored a try and Jeremy Grisman landed the conversion.

Stratford hit back with two tries in the last three minutes.