You are here: home -> first xv -> fixtures 2004/05 -> bridgnorth 26/03/2005

BRIDGNORTH  0 - 19  HEREFORD

Bridgnorth, Saturday 26 March 2005

North Midlands Cup
 
Hereford did not perform as well as they should have done but were far better than Bridgnorth in this North Midlands Cup encounter. The players were disappointed afterwards but the very narrow pitch did not help their game. They were constantly sucked in to a forward struggle and ended up on occasions having to win the same ball at least twice. The line out did not go well and even the introduction of line out specialist Jamie Bullock late in the game did not allow a decent supply of ball from that aspect of set play. Hereford started the game without Des White, Steve Bailey and Jeremy Grisman who were all suffering from injuries. In addition to them, Tim Harvey, Dave Thomas, Billy Grisman and Ben Collier all came off with injuries before half time.

The game opened slowly with Hereford just sounding out the opposition. Within the first fifteen minutes Hereford had two kickable penalties but Gary Preece was just wide with both attempts. Bridgnorth constantly played on the edge to discourage a free flowing game and both their flankers were a constant menace. The team must learn how to deal with these sorts of players to allow their free flowing share of good quick ball.

It took thirty minutes for Bridgnorth to come into the Hereford 22 and when they did, a Hereford forward strayed offside. A penalty was given to the home side, which seemed easier to kick than miss, but the Bridgnorth fly half, fortunately for Hereford took the harder option. Hereford then pressed the Bridgnorth line for the remainder of the first half and were not clever enough to thwart the home side flankers from denying quick clean ball. Matthew Pritchard, Ben Collier, Andy Johnson and Ben Priday were again the pick of the forwards and both Priday and Johnson were held up over the line. In the back line Richard Mayson, Kieran Griffiths and Adam Knight all came close but could not quite go that extra yard. At half time the scores were still 0-0 with Hereford having had the lion’s share of play.

Early in the second half Pritchard won some useful loose ball from a line out and some good ball skills from Will Bolt and Colin Osborne fed the ball to Kieran Griffiths who was strong enough to force his way over for the first try after ten minutes. Gary Preece converted to give Hereford a seven point cushion. Hereford pressed straight from the kick off and some running from Knight forced Bridgnorth into their 22 with their put-in at the scrum. Experienced scrum half Ben Jenkins quickly engulfed the oppositions scrum half, allowed Knight another run, this time finding the workman like Pritchard who went over for Hereford’s second. Preece again added the conversion to put Hereford into a comfortable lead.

Hereford then relaxed and allowed Bridgnorth to play the last ten minutes in Hereford’s 22, but this proved good experience for defensive strategy and although pressing the home side never really looked like scoring. Ben Jenkins finally decided enough was enough and cleared the ball back up into the Bridgnorth 22. From the line out Bridgnorth were penalised for killing the ball and Gary Preece stepped up for the last play of the game. His kick missed and Bridgnorth decided to run the ball from their own try line. Hereford were quickly up with the initial turnover being won by Pritchard and the Hereford pack duly presented the ball to Jenkins. He ran the fifteen metres round the blind side to finish the game with a try in then corner. Preece missed the final conversion and the game was over.

The next round is the quarter-final when Hereford will entertain Luctonians at Wyeside on 16th April.

Before that of course, next Saturday, Hereford are away to Shipston on Stour and complete their home fixtures in the league against Old Yardleians on Saturday 9th April.
 
PREVIOUS MEETINGS: