BARKERS BUTTS  8 - 13  HEREFORD

Saturday 19 February 2005

Powergen Midlands 3 West (South)

Ben Collier and Adam Knight were both unavailable as they had been called up for duty with Gloucester Under 21s. Luke Clifford did not on this occasion make the Gloucester Squad but this was Hereford's gain as he was able to steal four vital line outs that had a bearing on the final result. He was ably assisted by the lifters in the line out that put the pressure on Butts throughout the game, making every passage of play a completion.

The first quarter of the game saw Butts trying to assert their dominance with constant attacks into the Hereford 22. Andy Johnson and Jamie Bullock did some sterling tidying up and snatched a couple of turnovers in the process. Gary Preece, Jackie White and Des White seemed confident in defence and were on hand to clear the ball away from the Hereford line.

Hereford tried to break out of their own half by running the ball rather than kicking and the backs looked good and sharp on the attack. From one such run Butts were penalised at the breakdown 30 yards from their line and Jeremy Grisman kicked Hereford into a 3 point lead.

Butts three quarters went straight back down to the Hereford 22 but were stopped by some excellent tackling. However Hooker Wayne Davies gave a penalty away and also earned himself a yellow card for playing the man, not the ball, with his boot. Butts' top scorer Richardson made no mistake to kick the three points.

This seemed to unnerve Hereford and following a poor kick off Butts sprang back into the attack and pressured Hereford back into defence. Scrum half Talbot got the ball from a ruck and sailed round the blind side unattended to score in the corner to take the score to 8-3. In the 10 minutes that a player was off the field Butts scored their only 8 points, a fact that coach Mike Stubbs constantly stressed to his players. Butts could have scored again but once again the Preece was able to win the race for the touchdown.

With Davies returning Hereford were able to turn up the screw and spent the last 15 minutes of the first half determined to run the ball at their hosts and pick up some tries. Butts defence held firm and at half time they led 8-3.

Hereford started the second half as they finished the first,  continuous pressure forcing the Butts' players to constantly infringe. The referee took action after a couple of warnings and sent lock Collins to the bin. Meanwhile, Ali McCall and Eddy Edwards had also replaced Captain Wilf Rees and former Captain Andy Johnson. In a mirror of the first half this proved the catalyst for Hereford to take advantage of the one-man deficit and they laid siege to the home team's line. Some good work from both backs and forwards resulted in the referee giving a penalty try against the Butts' back row for breaking off and coming round offside to try to prevent Andy Johnson from scoring. Grisman kicked the conversion to put Hereford into a 10-8 lead.

Butts were facing their first home defeat of the season and piled on the pressure for the last quarter. However Hereford held firm. Hereford’s front row were in particularly good form. Dave Thomas had done his job before having to retire with a slight injury to the neck. Replacement Steve Bailes and Ben Hillstead, along with Hooker Wayne Davies were able to apply enough pressure in the scrums to disrupt the Butts' flow of ball from the set pieces. This was a vital part of the Hereford defence. Both props were outstanding and produced match winning performances.

Butts continued to hunt for the winning try but some vital turnovers from scrum, lineout and loose balls kept Hereford ahead of the game. Billy Grisman was instrumental in either clearing his lines or quick passing to older brother Jeremy for him to relieve the pressure. With only 5 minutes left a long clearance from Jeremy Grisman found touch with Des White following it up. From the lineout, Jamie Bullock won another clean ball and released the backs again. Grisman made a super break and set up a ruck underneath the posts. Once again Butts killed the ball and a penalty was awarded to Hereford. In a swirling wind Grisman took his time and added the 3 points to take Hereford into a 13-8 lead.

With a couple of minutes left Butts again went into the attack down on the Hereford line but Hereford held firm and fittingly it was man of the match Jamie Bullock who had won the ball for Hereford in the last play of the game.

Chairman Guy Griffiths said "this was an important performance in the continued development in the club. Earlier in the season they may have crumbled and made more mistakes but the players are by and large sticking to the game plan and this is paying dividends. It was the best result of the season for us and all the players can do is to finish the season without losing another game. I was extremely pleased with the whole team, who played as a team and for each other; this is the only way forward. Also the front row played a huge part and Ben Hillstead appears to have come through his “overweight period”. Fortunately Steve Bailes has had no such problems”.