HEREFORDSHIRE GC's senior team have a mountain to climb if they are to book a place in the final of the Ken Smith Trophy, a Shropshire & Hereford-shire winter competition for seniors, after going down 3-0 in the away leg of their semi-final against Lilleshall Hall.

Forced to make a last minute change when skipper Cliff Mawby's wife was taken ill, the three Hereford pairs battled hard but eventually bowed to local course knowledge.

In the first two matches Roy Eckley and Brian Matthews, and Neil Bell and Terry Horobin, both went down by two and one, and in the anchor match Ken Mallender and Roy Joshua met a home couple on a hot putting streak and lost four and three.

However, the Hereford team are hopeful of turning around the defeat in the second leg.

Herefordshire GC's ladies' winter medal was closely contested with both categories being decided on a card countback..

February medal, silver: 1 Glynne Hall 86-14-72, 2 Gertie Hayward 92-20-72; bronze: 1 Sue Powell 107-36-71, 2 Caroline Beavan 101-30-71.

The bitterly cold weather did not deter 47 seniors from contesting the winter stableford.

Winter stableford, division 1: 1 George Warley 41 pts, 2 Norman Sockett 41, 3 Cecil Morgan 39; division 2: 1 Graham Rees 41, 2 Jim Sloan 40, 3 Jim Smith 39.

n Wales golfers salvaged some pride for the below par performance of the national rugby team at Twickenham when they beat their England club colleagues in the annual Celtic Challenge match at Kington.

Thirty-six golfers met for breakfast before battling it out on Bradnor Hill, reputedly part of the Principality in the dim and distant past. In nine matches, played as a better-ball stableford format, the Celts totalled 371 points, just four more than England.

Best overall pair: Phil Price and Mike Harley (Wales) 44 pts; best England scores: 1 Mike Waygood and Gareth Williams 44, 2 Nigel Scott and Wyndham Evans 43; Wales best scores: 1 Mel Hughes and Andy Gealy 44, 2 Howard Perry and Dai Burke 44.

Senior winter league stableford, division 1: 1 Terry Inskip 38 pts, 2 Andy Edey 36, 3 Paul England 35; division 2: 1 Neil Warrington 37, 2 Eddy Winstone 36, 3 John Stocker 35.

The mixed team medal used an interesting format with the best men's score and best ladies' score counting on each hole.

Anne Hitchcox, Jill Wictome, Frankie Burke and Glyn Wictome cogged well to produce a winning 16-under-par 124, with Bea Baxendale, Sherrie Gore, David Baxendale and Mel Hughes taking second place on a card countback from Jenny Kelly, Jean Williams, Jim Kelly and John Williams after both pairs had posted nett 126s.

Ladies' Spring Accum-ulator (12 holes), fourth leg, silver: 1 Pam Layton 24 pts, 2 Pauline Betteridge 23; bronze: 1 Jean Williams 24, 2 Gill Lloyd 23.

n Twelve-handicapper Martin Davies is enjoying a purple patch of form at Leominster.

In the January stableford he carded an impressive 47 points to leave the rest of the field trailing and then teamed up with club captain Richard Francis to win the Daily Mail qualifier.

January stableford, division 1 (0-12): 1 Martin Davies 47 pts, 2 Nigel Morris 43, 3 Edward Jones 37; division 2 (13-18): 1 Anthony Lort 43, 2 Tom Chadwick 39, 3 Rob Brotherwood 38; division 3 (19-28): 1 Charlie Tune 41, 2 Terry Davies 38, 3 Dilwyn James 38.

Daily Mail qualifier: 1 Richard Francis and Martin Davies 83-13-69, 2 Malcolm Davies and Adrian Bennett 86-15-70, 3 Brendan O'Brien and Adam Davies 78-6-72.

n Mac Park was in fine form for Burghill Valley's senior February medal when he carded the best gross score of 82 and won the division one nett prize by six shots with a splendid 65.

Senior February medal, division 1: 1 Mac Park 82-17-65, 2 Lionel Ricketts 88-17-71, 3 Peter Haddock 91-20-71; division 2: 1 Doug Harvey 92-24-68, 2 Mike Wilde 93-22-71, 3 David Wilson 99-28-71.

The sun shone on the ladies for their Texas Scramble competition, with Vicky Howells, Joan Curtis and Pat Rhodes taking full advantage with an impressive 70-10-60.

Lynda Vaughan, Heater Burley and Pauline Smith were second on 72-11-61, with Joan Dukes, Rosie Cole and Julie Saych third on 70-6.8-63.2.

n Kieran Helps notched an unusual double at Hereford Municipal when he won both the afternoon and night stableford competitions in the Day-Night event.

Afternoon stableford (nine holes): 1 Kieran Helps 19 pts, 2 Colin Morgan 18, 3 Sharon Helps 17.

Night stableford (nine holes): 1 Kieran Helps 12 pts, 2 Shaun Vivian 11, 3 Chris Wearmouth 10.

n Ross-on-Wye's Senior Midweek Winter League, now in its fourth year, is proving to be more popular than ever.

With only one match to play in League 1 the defending champions Pat Curtis and Dave Emery are the clear leaders from second-placed John Palmer and Trevor Flowers.

In League 2 it would take a minor miracle to oust the leaders Chris Downs and Jim Wilkinson, who are unbeaten in their nine matches.

n Nick Williams and Richard Williams were clear winners of the latest Winter League pairs stableford at Belmont with a fine 49 points, four clear of runners-up Eric Mayers and Alan Morgan, with Richard Vale and Ian Gardiner a further point adrift in third place.

February stableford: 1 Dave Faulkner 36 pts, 2 Luke Morris 36, 3 Phil Skyrme 35.

Senior February stableford: 1 John Lewthwaite 37 pts, 2 Angus Maclean 37, 3 Peter Smith 37, 4 Paul Gosling 37.

Senior medal, division 1 (0-13): 1 Alan Standring 82-13-69, 2 Ken Shurmer 75-5-70; division 2 (14-28): 1 Eric Mayers 89-14-75, 2 Peter Rouse 91-16-75.