Ledbury RFC, with a severely depleted side, took on Midlands Four side Old Halesonians in the Third Round of the Powergen Intermediate Cup.

LEDBURY 18pts, OLD HALESONIANS 9pts

Ledbury lost the toss and played downhill for the first half. Even though Halesonians were of a lower league this was not going to be an easy game, their pack were strong and Ledbury were continuously taking ball going backwards in the scrum.

Ledbury opened the scoring with a converted try then the visitors came back with a penalty. Ledbury were getting some good ball from open play but could not turn it into points. Another penalty awarded to Ledbury and the sure boot of Barrett Price made it 10-3 going into half time.

The second half saw the visitors playing with renewed strength, putting Ledbury under immense pressure but the Ledbury defence held firm until Isiah Young got sin-binned for 10 minutes for a dump tackle on a Halesonian back. The penalty resulted in three points for the visitors. Continued pressure and another penalty made the score 10-9.

Old Halesonians, the bit firmly between their teeth, threw everything at Ledbury and did manage to break through and score under the posts only to have it ruled out for a forward pass.

A rare steady scrum from Ledbury (thanks to the old war-horses Rob Chapman and Chris Kitching) saw a kick and chase up field, which resulted in a penalty, which was easily slotted by Barrett Price. The score now 13-9 with minutes left on the clock.

The restart saw the visitors throw caution to the wind but a well-placed return kick from Pete Elkington gave a lineout for the visitors on their own five metre line. A sublime leap from Cameron Doig at the front of the line stole the ball for man of the match Ed Hewitt to go over in the corner for a try.

The conversion was missed and the referee blew for full time.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Ledbury are at home to Keresley in a Midlands Three South (West) league match, kick-off 2.30pm. Supporters welcome.