Stratford 24 pts Hereford 20

HEREFORD chairman Guy Griffiths was downcast after his side suffered a surprise defeat in their opening Midlands 3 West (South) clash of the season.

"If Hereford can not beat a poor side then it does not look good for the coming season," he commented. "Two points have been thrown away and this will be vital at the end of the season in the promotion hunt.

"The only saving grace is that on this performance Stratford will not be anywhere near the top of the table - but then neither will Hereford."

After a promising start, Hereford were punished for defensive hesitancy when the home scrum-half gathered a bouncing ball and ran in unopposed from half-way for the first try.

Hereford then pressed for a further 10 minutes before conceding another poor try.

A high tackle by Ben Priday on a home winger was penalised and the full-back was allowed to slip through under the posts for a converted score.

Billy Grisman finally notched Hereford's first try of the season but Stratford hit back to score their third try on only their fourth excursion into the Hereford half.

Matthew Pritchard cut the deficit again with a try just before the break but skipper Jeremy Grisman, taking over kicking duties after Colin Osborne had missed with five efforts, hit a post with the conversion attempt.

More poor defensive play allowed Stratford in for another converted try but Hereford, down to 13 men after Ali McCall and Priday had been sin-binned, scored late on through Will McCaid. On this occasion, Osborne added the extra points.

l Hereford 2nd came away with a 34-21 over their Stratford counterparts. Tries: Kyle Dovey (2), Andy Tanner, Ben Stephens, Richard Preece; pen: Richard Rees; cons: Richard Rees (3).