LEDBURY RFC ran out 22-8 victors over Herefordshire rivals Hereford RFC after scoring 15 points without answer in the first half.

The hosts made their visitors pay the price for too many unforced errors in the first half and scored 15 unanswered points

In the second period, Hereford kicked a penalty and scored a nice try, whilst Ledbury added a further try of their own to run out clear winners.

“Losing to a neighbouring team in a local derby is never nice and on top of that it was not a good performance.” said disappointed Hereford head coach, Scott Sturdy

“I would like to give a good shout out to Ledbury, who played really well and rose to the occasion.

“Unfortunately, the Hereford performance was littered with unforced errors, missed tackles and generally an inability to deal with the pressure.”

Coming into the Herefordshire derby neither side had won this season and the nerves showed.

Mid-way through the first half, some Ledbury pressure forced a penalty 25 yards out in front of the Hereford posts, Iolo Bubb converted to give Ledbury a three-point lead.

This seemed to settle the Ledbury side and from a penalty they moved the ball wide for Josh Bishop to score in the corner.

Just before half-time the hosts scored a second try from Ben Lewis, Bubb converted to give the home side a 15-0 interval lead.

The second half belonged to the Wyesiders, who spent long spells in the Ledbury half.

One such period of pressure forced a penalty, which was slotted by Iwan Holder to reduce the deficit.

However, with 20 minutes to go Ledbury increased their lead when the ball was moved from the corner into mid-field and Aaron Oldham crossed for the try, Bubb converted.

With under 10 minutes left Hereford produced their only try following a slick handling movement from edge to edge, through several pairs of hands ended with Tom Ewins crashing over for the try.

Hereford’s revival was again not quite sufficient to overcome the deficit suffered in the first half, the final score remaining 22 – 8.

The 1870s lost 18-30 at home to Dudley Kingswinford seconds. Try scorers for the hosts were Lewis Goodridge, Drew Price and Juris Kudrjavcevs. Ben Wood kicked a penalty goal.

Next week there are no league fixtures, but on Saturday, October 12, Hereford entertain Cheltenham at Wyeside and the 1870s visit Upton on Severn for a local derby.