Hereford 22 pts Malvern 31

A PIECE of indiscipline contributed towards Hereford's second successive defeat in the Powergen Midlands 2 West at Wyeside.

Hereford paid the price for hooker Wayne Davies being yellow-carded towards the end of the first half for illegal use of the boot.

Malvern took full advantage of their one-man advantage and weighed in with 14 points without reply in the period that the hooker was off the field.

Hereford chairman Guy Griffiths commented: "I wrote to the players at the start of the season telling them that any player sent from the field of play would cost us points. The statistics prove my point."

Hereford made a bright start and took the lead in the third minute when Colin Osborne kicked a close-range penalty.

But the visiting forwards then took charge and, after winning a series of loose plays set up by the accurate kicking of Jenkins, Logan was driven over the line by the Malvern pack and Longley added the extra points.

Hereford were penalised soon afterwards outside their own 22 and a quick move resulted in O'Brien cutting through the home defence. Longley kicked the conversion.

After Davies was sent to the sin-bin, Malvern profited, with Richards scoring a converted try to put the visitors into a commanding 21-3 lead at the interval.

Hughes scored a try for Malvern in the opening minutes of the second period and, once again, Longley added the extra points to put them 28-3 in front.

With Hereford back to a full complement, Osborne again turned defence into attack and a series of neat passes between Langford, Will McQuaid and Will Watkins forced Malvern into conceding a penalty just outside their own 22. Gary Preece moved the ball to skipper Andy Johnson who charged over for Hereford's opening try, which Osborne converted.

Hereford attacked from the restart and cut the deficit to 28-17 when Richard Mayson and the outstanding Ben Collier forced Malvern into another off-side position. Preece was on hand to score Hereford's second try and Osborne successfully kicked the conversion.

Longley kicked another three points to take Malvern into an unassailable 31-17 advantage but the home side had the final word.

Another flowing move started by Osborne led to another penalty being awarded to Hereford on the Malvern 22-metre line.

And, with help from his forwards, Hereford prop Andy Mason crashed over to complete the scoring.

l Hereford 2nd's friendly at Malvern 2nd's was abandoned with just five minutes remaining when full-back Jim Kenyan was knocked unconscious after an accidental collision with former Hereford player Dave Beech.

Hereford were trailing 25-19 at the time of the incident, with Rob Brimfield, Ben Adams and Aser Chung scoring tries for the visitors and Lyndon Day kicking two conversions.

l Hereford Under-15 started their campaign with an emphatic 52-7 away win over Lydney. Tries from Liam Herbert (3), Owen Lawrence, Adam Tilset, Rhys Plummer, Hugh Dunbar, Liam Greasley, plus four conversions from Luke Dale and two from Herbert, completed the rout.