Old Edwardians 24 pts Hereford 7

WITH Old Edwardians' first-team ground unavailable because of renovation, Hereford played their Powergen Midlands 2 West fixture on a very narrow pitch.

This suited the older, more experienced home pack well and negated any advantage Hereford had with their youthful and exciting back-line.

Hereford started well and enjoyed good possession from the lineout, but when they tried to run the ball they soon found themselves restricted by the lack of space.

Edwardians played to their strong pack and eventually opened the scoring midway through the half when a series of driving mauls took play to the visitors line, with a flanker breaking off the final ruck to crash over for a converted try.

Edwardians went further ahead when Hereford were penalised for going over the top and, although still enjoying some good ball, the visitors could not break down the well organised home defence.

There was an eventful start to the second half with Hereford raising their game and launching a series of strong attacks but failing to score.

Edwardians held firm and when a visiting attack faltered they counter-attacked to score a breakaway corner try.

Hereford flanker Matt Pritchard was outstanding, getting to the breakdowns quickly, supporting the attacks and also putting in some telling tackles, and he was well supported by scrum-half Ben Jenkins who never stopped trying.

A second Edwardians penalty saw them move 18 points clear.

The visitors finally hit back through substitute lock Wilf Rees who crashed over after Hereford had executed an unstoppable rolling maul from a take at the back of the lineout and full-back Colin Osborne adding the conversion.

That was as close as they got, with Edwardians landing a couple of late penalties to send the Wyesiders crashing to their seventh league defeats in eight starts.