Ledbury entertained Hereford at Ross Road on Sunday in this exceptionally tight game, which for the first time this season saw the home side fail to score on their own patch.

LEDBURY U12S v HEREFORD U12S

A chill wind throughout this three-way, 20 minutes per section encounter, was enough to ensure the wingers needed to keep their hands warm whilst waiting for service from the centres and at times it was slow to come.

Tom West played a blinder in all three sections, both offensively and defensively, getting to the ball first on many occasions. Arron Almond and Jamie Ford both made good driving gains and Charlie Smith, as always, led from the front, however there was no score.

After the first turnaround, Ledbury looked to take advantage of the smaller opposition substitutions, and it nearly worked with wide ball to Tom West, who lost possession from a try-saving tackle.

The ensuing loose ball was quickly gathered up, however, for the visitor's opener, resulting from a 30 metre sprint down the open side line.

This didn't seem to perturb Ledbury as Chris Leadbeater sizzled down the left touchline after a good carry and drive from Fred Nottingham, only to be brought down a metre short of the line.

The final turnaround came with Ledbury in good shape and only one score behind. In this section however tempers seemed to flair as high tackles went in from both sides, unfortunately Ledbury being the worst offenders and rightly penalised by the referee.

The third of three penalties only a few metres from the homesters line resulted in Hereford crashing over, in spite of spirited tackling by Rob Houlbrooke and Dom Matthews, who up-ended his much larger opposite number on numerous occasions.

A last minute rally by the homeside saw Dan Allam break away from a reset scrum, feed good ball to Andrew Nash, only for him to be bundled into touch just short of the try line.