STRATFORD-UPON-AVON  24 - 20  HEREFORD

Stratford, Saturday 3 September 2005

Powergen Midlands 3 West (South)

From the kick off Stratford were penalised for offside but Colin Osborne failed with the kick. Hereford continued to attack for a further ten minutes and again the Stratford full back cleared under pressure. The Stratford winger raced up the pitch where he was high tackled by Ben Priday. From the resulting penalty the full back was allowed to slip through some poor Hereford defence to score under the posts. He kicked the conversion. In the first fifteen minutes Stratford had been in Hereford’s half twice and scored two tries. The self-destruct button had been pressed.

The game continued in the same vein with Hereford attacking, getting as far as the line then giving a penalty away for offside or handling in the ruck even though they were in control, and allowing Stratford to kick clear. If an offence was not committed up front the backs contrived to drop the ball or kick it away. This was unfortunately the pattern of the game throughout the eighty minutes.

Matthew Pritchard and Adam Knight worked tirelessly and Pritchard set up Knight for a run towards the line after about thirty minutes. He was held up and Stratford were penalised for being offside five metres out. From yet another scoring chance a Hereford forward knocked it on, scrum to Stratford and the ball was kicked away again. From this the backs attacked and Jeremy Grisman was held up on the line. From the ensuing scrum Billy Grisman darted over for Hereford first try of the season. Osborne missed the conversion. 12-5.

Hereford again went on the attack and Ben Priday was left carrying the ball five yards from the line with a three man overlap against one defender. Unfortunately he did not pass and was tackled just short. From the scrum Stratford again kicked long and a fumbled ball in defence gave a scrum on the half way line. From this they kicked into the corner. From the line out Hereford knocked on and gave the scrum to Stratford. The flanker picked up and scored Stratford’s third try of the half after entering Herefords half for only the fourth time in the game.

With a minute to go to half time the forwards won the ball from the kick off with some good work from Wilf Reece and Billy Spirey. This set Adam Knight up for a darting run, who fed Pritchard to go over under the posts. With Osborne having missed five kicks in the first half, skipper Grisman took the conversion but hit the post. Half time 17-10.

Hereford once again camped for the first ten minutes inside the 22 but Stratford continued their dogged defence and Hereford came away with three points from Osborne’s first successful kick after fifteen minutes. Good work from White and Sam Walker had resulted in several opportunities to score.

Hereford went back on attack but lost the ball on the Stratford line. True to form the fullback kicked deep into the Hereford half where White and Osborne made a mess of a switch move. A chasing Stratford player was then said to be obstructed by Ali McCall on the 22 after kicking through and McCall who was sinned binned with Stratford awarded a penalty try. 24-13 with twenty minutes to go. Hereford pressed again but a high tackle resulted in Ben Priday joining McCall in the sin bin. Even with thirteen men Hereford were never really under pressure which showed how poor Stratford were and indeed how poor Hereford were not being able to rack up the points. With a full fifteen men in the final minutes and some tactical changes, Hereford got a final score through Will McQuaid with Osborne kicking the conversion. Final score 24-20.

The feeling after the game was that Hereford had thrown away two points which may be vital at the end of the season in the promotion hunt.