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SILHILLIANS  25 - 8  HEREFORD

Saturday 30 October 2004

Powergen Midlands 3 West (South)
 
Hereford travelled to Solihull feeling confident after two good away victories on the trot but failed to live up to their potential against a side that, although well organised, had little else to offer. Indeed Hereford ended the match with only twelve players on the pitch when Wayne Davies was yellow carded, followed by a red for Andy Johnson and then a yellow for Gary Preece.

Hereford started the game disastrously and it took only three minutes for the first try. Poor defence and then loss of their own line out ball allowed a forward maul and a try from the No.8.

Hereford came back into the game and were held up on the line on several occasion in the next ten minutes. A particularly good passage of play involving forwards and backs, with Ben Collier prominent, gave quick clean ball right on the Silhillians' try line. However the home side full back made a vital interception on his own try line and raced the full length of the pitch to touch down under the posts. This made the score 12-0 after 15 minutes.

Hereford seemed to lose their momentum after this and struggled to get back in the game. Another lost ball in the line out produced quick ball for the Silhillians' winger to score, against the run of play again for another, right on half time.

The start of the second half gave Silhillians more chances to put the match out of reach for Hereford but some stout defence from Gary Preece, Ben Collier and Mark Astley stemmed the tide. After 20 minutes of the second half Will Bolt clawed back three points and for the next 15 minutes it was all Hereford, as the players appeared to realise that if they played decent rugby they could win the game. Jeremy Grisman went close a couple of times before Des white finally crossed the line to put the score to 17-8.

Another two scores were possible in the remaining ten minutes, however Hereford made their task even more improbable when a defensive error from the kick off gave Silhillians another three points. Hereford stuck to the task and pinned the home side back on their try line. Davies burst through on a loose ball, right on the line, but was held by the back of the collar to stop him getting the ball and swung round punching. His resulting yellow card ended Hereford attempts at getting something from the game and from the penalty Silhillians cleared their lines.

Simple frustration then earned Johnson a red card for a similar offence. Hereford could not stem the forward rush with two off the pitch and a final try was conceded. At the same time Gary Preece was yellow carded for a minor offence. The final score was 25-8.

Hereford know they have now lost three leagues games that they should not have but the fact remains that Hereford are in a mid table position through their own inconsistencies.