Hereford Rugby Club captain Luke Yarranton on 24-10 win against Crewe & Nantwich in Midlands 1 West

The Wyesiders secured a winning bonus point after beating struggling Crewe & Nantwich in Midlands 1 West.

The win has given Hereford some breathing space between themselves and the bottom two places and with five of their last seven games being at home, Yarranton sees no reason why they cannot finish the campaign strongly.

“We’ve got Dudley Kingswinford away this weekend and they have gone from a struggling side to fourth place, but the Kenilworth and Worcester games at home are the big ones,” said Yarranton.

“We played Burton away and then had the week off, so I was slightly worried going into the game. But the performance at Burton gave us a massive confidence boost because we were much smaller than them and it’s notoriously a tough place to go.

“The conditions suited Crewe more than us, but everything came together and we played some really good rugby.

“It was a really young team, but it was good to have Brad Talbot back because I think we’ve been missing him recently.”

Hereford ran in three tries in a 20 minute spell in the first half, with Crewe only able to kick over a penalty. Nathan Boden drove over for the first try, converted by Charlie Loughman, before Perry Pudge – playing his first senior game at outside-half – cut through to score.

Crewe then landed their penalty before Pudge scored his second try of the afternoon.

Hereford extended their lead moments into the second half when the forwards drove player-coach Luke Fisher over, with Loughman’s conversion making it 24-3 in favour of the home side.

The big Crewe forwards put the Hereford goalline under constant siege for 20 minutes, but despite conceding several penalties, the home defence held out.

Crewe were awarded a penalty when Ben Hillstead was shown a yellow card for as high tackle, but the decision was reversed when a visiting forward retaliated.

The visitors grabbed a late converted try, but it was too late.