HEREFORD RFC opened the new season with a hard-won 17-15 victory over a strong Wolverhampton side.

Hereford controlled the first half but it was Wolverhampton who took the lead when the Wyesiders conceded a penalty at the break down before increasing their lead with a converted try after a speculative kick ahead was followed up and driven over from the resulting ruck.

On half time Callum Brayshaw kicked a penalty to reduce the visitors’ lead to 10-3.

Early in the second half a strong run by Levi Hughes ended just short of the Wolverhampton line, the ball was recycled and moved across the line to Jordan Sheehy who crossed in the corner.

Callum Brayshaw added the extra points to make the score level at 10-10 with an excellent kick from a difficult angle.

Some good work from Ollie Hutcheson and Scott Robinson won a penalty. Callum Brayshaw kicked to the corner, from the catch and drive the ball was moved along the line to Levi Hughes, who put Joe Vaughan over for a try in the corner, which Brayshaw converted with another great kick. Wolverhampton responded by putting the Hereford defence under pressure and eventually managed to drive over in the corner for a try which was not converted as the Wyesiders celebrated an opening day 17-15 win.

Head coach Scott Sturdy said: “What a day at Wyeside!

"It was great to see the newly refurbished clubhouse open, our sponsors sitting enjoying lunch before the game and supporters back watching both clubs’ first game after 18 months.

"I am proud of the way the lads translated into our performance many of the things we’ve worked on in training.

"We left lots of points on the field today, but we did get it 95 percent right and the next challenge over the next couple of weeks will be converting those difficult one percent to get our performance up to 100 percent. "Congratulations to Wolverhampton, they made very few errors, they were very abrasive and physical and will go well in the league this year.

"We had four debutants in our team today, all stood up and performed well, as did the experienced players like Luke Yarranton and Tom Ewins which gave confidence to the newcomers.

"We have promised that there will be local lads playing rugby at Wyeside, we’ll see more over the next few weeks and the real task will be to establish and maintain consistency of performance."

Next Saturday Hereford travel to Droitwich, who lost at home to Worcester.