It was a happy homecoming for Bromyard Coach Patrick Hill as his side edged out Greyhounds 12-6 in what was his first return to the City Sports Club since leaving last summer to take up the reins as coach of the Bromyard outfit.

“It’s always good to come back, it’s always good fun; obviously I know a lot of the players and staff that are here and I it’s nice to have a warm friendly welcome like I’ve had today. I enjoyed my time here both playing and in the coaching role but I’ve moved on now to Bromyard, which is a great club with a great bunch of lads and hopefully we can continue to produce strong performances like we did today for the rest of the season and beyond”.

With the side now sitting comfortably mid table and now looking up rather than down it is clear to see the good work that Hill has being doing at the club in just the short space of time he has been there, as Captain Jamie Williams was keen to point out.

“He’s done wonders for us this year, he’s got us going in the right direction, wants us to play the game in the right manner. There’s definitely a buzz around the boys, we’ve all started to see what kind of performances that as a squad we knew we had if not managed to show consistently before and that’s all down to the belief that Pat’s installed in us. He took a lot of ribbing when they beat us at our place so it was nice to put the balance of things right for him with the victory today”.

Despite his side losing out to Hill on this occasion, Greyhound Coach Mark Jones was very complimentary towards his counterpart and was impressed how much he had turned the side around since the two team’s previous encounter.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy even though we had gone over there and beaten them (24-20) on their home patch earlier in the season. Obviously we would’ve like to have done the double over them today but Pat’s a good lad, he coaches his side well and got his tactics spot on today. The work he’s done with the pack since our last game was clear to see as we had a real battle on our hands upfront today and unfortunately for us they just edge it out come the final whistle”.

And edge it out they did thanks to tries from Scott Holloway and George Leighton, coming one in each half.

Bromyard were 3-0 when they managed to get a score on the board as Holloway touched the ball down following a strong rolling maul from the pack, giving his side a 5-3 lead into the break.

The second half was even scrappier than the first but eventually George Leighton, just two minutes after returning from the sin bin, found his way over the try line to put his side further ahead.

Rivers added the conversion this time and despite a last big effort from Greyhound, the Bromyard defence held strong to leave them comfortably sitting in mid table, whilst the hosts were left still nervously looking over their shoulder just above the relegation zone.