LEVI Hughes scored a hat-trick of tries as Hereford RFC took advantage of the second half conditions to run out 48-14 winners against Droitwich.

After leading by three points at the break but playing down the slope with the wind at their backs Hereford took complete control in the second half scoring five tries to complete the win.

"We like to move the ball around, to play edge to edge and lads were able to do this in the very difficult conditions," said head coach Scott Sturdy.

"Droitwich hung in really well in the first half and took advantage of some soft defence, unusual for us.

"It was really good to see both our wingers score tries, that is always testament to playing good attacking rugby."

Early on both teams went through the phases and inside 10 minutes Hereford took the lead when winger Hughes outflanked the defence to touch down in the corner.

Droitwich responded and a missed tackle led to them scoring their first try.

The Wyesiders regained a lead when a catch and drive from the lineout was moved from Connor Sullivan to Joe Vaughan, whose miss pass to Hughes made space for the wing to score in the corner. Probing runs and a successful catch and drive took the Hereford maul over the visitors’ line and Lewis Jordan touched down for the third try.

Droitwich reduced the deficit before the interval when they took a quick tap penalty and broke through the tackle to score their second try.

Both Droitwich tries were converted and one of Hereford’s to take the half-time score to 17-14.

From the restart Hughes completed his hat-trick of tries at the end of a neat passing movement.

Hereford put pressure on the Droitwich defence and when the ball was released to Josh Wright, a nicely delayed pass put Matt Milsom over for the try.

The Wyesiders completed a comprehensive victory with two further tries. Matt Frost and Gareth Jones combined to make ground and an off load put in Richard Preece for a try, before Jones scored a try of his own after a scrum on the Droitwich line.