HEREFORD RFC completed their league campaign with a commanding second half performance resulting in a 19-33 victory at Malvern.
Bryn Goodall scored a brace of tries while Danny Robson, Jake Cheshire and Josh Wright also crossed the whitewash for the Wyesiders in a bonus point win.
“An enjoyable last league game over at Malvern, it was a challenging game and you could see that some of the lads had a week off last week,” said Hereford head coach Scott Sturdy.
“It’s been great too, to win four games in succession, one of the problems we’ve had this year has been consistency. The results since the start of 2024 have been extremely positive, we wanted to finish in the top four and missed out unfortunately by one point, but overall, a good season for our HRFC team.”
Malvern kicked off with the strong wind at their backs. They recovered the ball from the kick off, won a scrum and pushed over to take an early lead.
The hosts used the wind well and after putting a lot of pressure on the Hereford defence, a well drilled catch and drive from a lineout added a second try and conversion.
Hereford kept ball in hand and after going through the phases, Mal Stuffins moved the ball to Bryn Goodall, who made ground before kicking to the corner where Danny Robson, following up, got the touch down.
Following a period of pick and go, Malvern took advantage of some slack tackles resulted in a try which was converted to giving them a 19-5 lead.
The Wyesiders responded before the break and Goodall beat several tackles as he dived over. Iwan Holder nailed the conversion to take the interval score to 19-12.
Hereford, now with the wind behind them, drew level. They won a penalty, Iwan Holder found a good touch, following the lineout, the drive was touched down by Cheshire and converted by Holder.
As the game wore on, Hereford’s forwards took control of scrums and lineouts. The Wyesiders finally took the lead when Wright fed Dean Powell who released Goodall for the fourth and bonus point try, Holder converted.
Hereford sealed their win with a final try when a pack drove a scrum over the line and Wright pounced as the ball emerged for a typical scrum half try. Holder’s fourth conversion took the final score to 19-33.
The 1870s welcomed Kings Norton to Wyeside and won a one-sided game by 106-5. Try scorers were: Lewis Turner (2), Rhys Roberts (2), Neil Robertson (2), Will McFarlane (2), Max Cook (2), Ben Hyde (2), Ollie Bullied, Sam Roberts, Owen Robertson and Drew Price. Bullied converted 13 of the tries.
Next week the 1870s play their final league match against Kenilworth 2s at Wyeside, the HRFC team visit Cheltenham in the first round of the Papa John Cup.
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