Hereford RFC 14 Whitchurch RFC 19

HEREFORD bowed out of the North Midlands Cup after losing 19-14 to a well-drilled Whitchurch side.

The home struggled to get into the game during the early exchanges and found themselves 13 points down.

In the first 15 minutes, the Wyesiders were penalised on eight occasions and whitchurch out-half Ryan Horton slotted over two kicks to give the visitors a six-point lead.

Whitchurch’s back three put the Hereford defence under severe pressure and after 15 minutes moved the ball out wide to score in the corner, with Horton adding the extra points.

Hereford were awarded their first penalty after 20 minutes, Morgan Goodall found a good touch and take in the lineout by Callum Duncan to set up a forward drive which was forced into touch.

Hereford started the second period with a different philosophy and early in the half, an elusive break from out-half Lloyd Collier paved the way for Richard Preece to reduce the deficit with a try, which Goodall converted. With 20 minutes to go, Hereford took a narrow one point lead when Perry Pudge ran the ball out of defence.

He fed Tom Ewins, who made ground into the visitors’ 22, before off-loading to Collier who crashed over for the Wyesiders second try, Goodall converted.

The final quarter produced some good handling movements from both sides,but Hereford contributed to their own downfall with Jamie Bullock and Alex Hickinbotham receiving yellow cards. Whitchurch exploited the advantage and Horton converted two further penalties to take them into a final with Old Halesonians.

This Saturday, Hereford face a very stern test when they travel to top-of-the-table Newport (Salop) in a Midlands One West fixture.

l Ledbury are out of the North Midlands Shield Plate after losing 36-22 to Woodrush at the quarter-final stage.

The Ross Road side are away to Manor Park in Midlands Three West (South) this weekend, while Greyhound host top-of-the-table Cleobury Mortimer in Midlands Four West (North) and Bromyard travel to Rugeley. In Gloucester Two, Ross host Bishopston.