A SEETHING Hereford RFC head coach Bob Stewart labelled some of his players "lazy" after the Wyesiders slipped to a disappointing 28-27 defeat to Moseley Oak in Midlands 1 West.

Hereford went into the game ahead of their opponents in the table, but a fifth defeat of the season means the city side can probably only afford to lose one more match if they want to finish in the top two positions and they have the daunting task of going to league leaders Newport this weekend.

"The attitude before kick-off was confident and arrogant, probably too much so and they failed to play to the structures and patterns that we practised at training," said Stewart.

"When they did man up they played some good rugby, but some players were lazy and let their teammates down."

Moseley Oak started the game strongly and within thirty minutes had scored three tries to rattle up a 20-3 lead.

Hereford hardly got into the game until the final minutes of the half.

Following a lineout in the Moseley Oak half, some good handling retained possession before Sean Day received the ball to register Hereford's first try; Morgan Goodall converting. Either side of Day’s try, Goodall slotted over a brace of penalties to take the interval score to 20-13 in Moseley Oak's favour.

Some slopped defence work by Hereford led the away side in for another try two minutes after the break before the Wyesiders managed to create some chances.

They reduced the deficit after Goodall converted Troy Brocklebank's try, but back came Moseley Oak, who increased their lead with a penalty.

Hereford brought the score back to just one points when Goodall converted captain Luke Yarranton's try went over, but Moseley Oak held on for the win.

“The first 15 minutes let us down," admitted Yarranton.

"We were slow to start and gave away an early try in each half.

"Our backs were not firing and moved the ball wide too early.

"It was a game we should have won because we made plenty of chances.

"Our team is still young and will stay together for maybe five or six years and will grow in strength and experience.

"We have a massive game at Newport and we might catch a backlash following their loss at Dudley Kingswinford.”