HEREFORD Rugby Club returned to winning ways with a bonus point 22-10 victory over Leek in Midlands 1 West.

Leek made the Wyesiders work hard for the result and opened the scoring with a penalty goal after missing an earlier attempt.

It took Hereford until the final minutes of the half to take a lead with an unconverted try, but in the second half they ran in three tries in response to a single Leek try.

Hereford persisted in running the ball from all parts of the field, often from far too deep in their own half.

They did put together some sparkling handling movements, which rarely took them into the Leek 22 before being halted, often by an unforced handling error

In the final minutes of the first half Dean Powell put in a kick ahead, a Leek defender collected, but his kick was charged down by Tom Ewins and Callum Duncan dived on the ball for the first Hereford try.

Early in the second half, Andrew Potter picked up from the back of a ruck and drove over for the second Hereford try, which Dean Powell converted.

Hereford continued to run the ball from deep, but handling errors still frustrated and it was Leek who scored next with a converted try.

But Hereford took control for the final 20 minutes and sealed the win and a bonus points with two further tries.

Tom Slater first went over before Richard Preece broke away from a maul near the Leek goal line.

"Hereford had to work hard for this win, but made it difficult for themselves," said Hereford press office Rob Davies.

"Their running game is attractive, but not effective if they have not first secured a good field position.

Man-of-the-match, Nat Thomas, made some penetrating runs and centres Tom Ewins and Perry Pudge combined well to create good openings.

"The tight forwards put in a good shift and in the back row, Richard Preece and Lloyd Willcocks provided good foils to the youthful exuberance of Tom Slater and Callum Duncan." Coach Bob Stewart added: “We should have won more convincingly and left a hatful of tries on the field.

We made too many errors of judgement and failed to apply our game plan for much of the game.”

Next week for Hereford is a trip to Silhillians, a team they have found difficult to beat.