Hereford 28 pts Droitwich 10

HEREFORD booked their place in the semi-finals of the North Midlands Cup when they overcame lower-graded Droitwich in a hard-fought game, played in difficult conditions at Wyeside on Sunday.

Hereford led from the fifth minutes and went on to score three tries, two conversions and three penalties, while the Worcestershire visitors' reply came from a converted try and a penalty.

The Wysiders' pack maintained a relentless pace in the strength-sapping mud. Droitwich kept battling throughout but were prone to errors in a typical cup clash which produced several fracas and yellow cards for a player from each side.

In fact tempers flared in the first minute before Droitwich had the chance to take the lead, but centre Matthew Blackmore missed a simple penalty kick from in front of the posts.

Minutes later Hereford opened the scoring with a superb try when a dummied move by skipper Jason Lewis at centre put away his namesake, flanker Simon Lewis, and he raced through the defence to touch down between the posts, leaving Finbar Heavens with an easy conversion.

Heavens later missed a penalty but made amends with a successful kick in the 18th minute to give Hereford a 10-0 lead.

They were down to 14 men for 10 minutes when scrum-half Ben Jenkins was sin-binned and during that time Blackmore posted Droitwich's first points with a 30th-minute penalty.

The home team were quick to hit back, however, and winger Mark White charged down an attempted clearance kick to score in the left corner. Heavens' difficult conversion attempt went wide, but he added a penalty with the last kick of the first half for Hereford to lead 18-3.

Five minutes into the second period Droitwich replacement full-back Sasha Hobbs was sin-binned and during his absence Heavens added another penalty.

Some fast and furious play followed with Droitwich desperate for points to get back into the game. The visitors were rewarded on 63 minutes after a tap-penalty move in front of the posts which led to a penalty try being awarded when Hobbs chipped over the defence but was brought down as he chased through. Blackmore kicked the conversion.

Hereford had no intentions of letting Droitwich back in, however, and produced sustained pressure which led to number eight Andy Johnson charging through for a try in the 72nd minute. Heavens' conversion completed the scoring.

lHereford are drawn away to Newport in the semi-finals but a date has yet to be agreed as the Shropshire club's ground has been closed as part of a foot and mouth exclusion zone.

The other semi-final between Old Halesonians and Bromsgrove was postponed from Sunday to April 22.