Hereford win at Barkers Butts in Midlands One West (From Hereford Times)

Hereford win at Barkers Butts in Midlands One West

4:00pm Wednesday 20th March 2013 in Rugby

Barkers Butts 17 pts Hereford 34 pts.

WHILE delighted with his side’s Midlands One West win over their Coventry-based, relegation-threatened hosts, Hereford spokesman Robin Davies sounded a note of caution.

“In poor conditions, it is possible to play too much open rugby and sometimes it pays to tighten the game and leave less chance for error,” said the former player.

“The careless handling errors leading to us conceding two late tries, could in a tighter game, have been costly. “But we improved on some of our faults in recent games, threw to the front of the line-out consistently and had a better return from this phase of the game. “The line kicking was much better and the failure to find touch eliminated.”

In an entertaining game, Hereford took the lead after two minutes when Nat Thomas’ kick was mishandled by the Butts’ defence and Gary Preece powered over for a try which James Watters was unable to convert.

Hereford conceded a number of penalties, one of which was kicked by the home side to reduce arrears before Sean Day’s penetrating run paved the way for Josh Bell to score the second Hereford try.

It was a welcome return for Bell who was making his come-back after being injured at Ludlow on the season’s opening day.

Shortly afterwards, a Billy Grisman kick ahead was picked up by Thomas who crossed for the third try, which Watters converted.

Hereford increased their lead still further before the break when Day went over virtually unopposed for the bonus-point try. Watters landed the conversion to make the score 24-3 at the turnaround.

With ground conditions making flowing play difficult, Hereford had to wait until the final 15 minutes to add to their score when a forward drive set Richard Preece up for the fifth try.

Battling Barkers pulled back with a converted try before Tom Ewins, following up after Thomas was brought down just short of the line, added Hereford’s final try.

Careless handling, however, in the closing moments allowed the home side to have the final word with their second score.