LEDBURY beat the weather and Old Coventrians to pick up a maximum points 48-12 victory in their Counties 1 Midlands West (South) league match.

An unexpected covering of snow overnight made way the pitch was deemed clear and safe enough for the game to go ahead.

A lightening start for the Herefordshire hosts resulted in Josh Bishop running over out wide to claim the first score inside five minutes.

The hosts soon furthered their advantage when a quick scrum ball from Tom Hill released the line with Luke Clarke cutting in on a perfect angle to touch down just outside the left post. This time Iolo Bubb had no problem with the conversion to make it (12-0).

Ledbury were in the ascendancy and a tap and go five metres out was thwarted just short of the line, before a solid drive saw Jamie Rayfield seized his chance to touch down and, with another Iolo conversion, it was 19 points without answer. After trading kicks back and forth all of a sudden Ledbury were caught on the hop and the Old Covs wing, on an overlap, was in for their first try (19-5).

The hosts responded with Freddie Hemingway charging through gaining hefty territory before good hands down the line allowed Bishop in for his second, Iolo topping it off with his best and hardest conversion of the day as the half ended 26-5.

From a knock on at the restart the Old Covs scrum dished up loose ball and a strident tackle from Charlie Barber-Starkey eventually freed Ed Bennion to crash through and from the melee of a maul five metres out he scored, Iolo with the extras.

Ledbury came again through a Luke Clarke interception but this time the conversion hit the post (36-5).

Looking for a third in a matter of minutes Ledbury were caught by an interception allowing Old Covs to run in under the posts from inside their own 22, improving their tally in a flash.

A yellow card for each side saw teams reduced to 14 and by both packs merging into a blur as shirts and faces blended in colour.

Ledbury coped better with the conditions and soon Cam Smith was in to score to make it 41-12.

As tired bodies slipped into increasingly sloppy play Smith fed ball to Jamie Rayfield to seal the final try, again converted by the reliable Iolo to finish the match.

Ledbury secured another bonus point win with three games to go. A crucial game awaits on March 16 as Manor Park come to Ledbury lying third, 10 points behind but having won the reverse fixture 16-12 before Christmas.

Not so lucky were the Ledbury Lions whose friendly against Old Patesian 2s was stopped after about 20 minutes.