LEDBURY RFC suffered on an unfamiliar 4G pitch as they were beaten 47-26 at Cheltenham Tigers.

Cheltenham made nine changes from the starting line-up which narrowly beat Hereford a week earlier and had the advantage of their own artificial surface.

The Cheltenham backs looked sharp, but it was Ledbury who scored first with a well struck Iolo Bubb penalty from 40 metres, after a Cheltenham high tackle.

Cheltenham responded rather too easily with a try for centre Dan Spencer-Tonks after a well drilled attack, Curtis Neal adding the extras (7-3).

Despite this set back, Bubb quickly put over a second Ledbury penalty.

However, the visitors infringed from the kick-off and suddenly it was all Cheltenham, with full back Henry Kirchner causing havoc, dancing through the Ledbury defence to score in the corner.

Quick footwork saw Cheltenham repeat the exercise minutes later, with Kirchner again joining the line and scoring in the corner for his second, with Curtis Neal once more adding two points (19-6).

A further high tackle from Cheltenham gave Ledbury the opportunity to kick for the corner and from the ensuing lineout, the forwards mauled their way over for a robust try (19-11) with John Clark scoring.

Ledbury’s tackling was falling off as Ryan Bradman was able to weave his way over from 22 metres to score under the posts, again Curtis Neal with the extras (26-11).

Ledbury were struggling to contain bulky prop Cam Holenstein early in the second half, who plunged over despite the attention of several Ledbury players, the accurate Curtis Neal once again topping it up.

The visitors were not going to lie down and redeemed themselves after a huge kick from Bubb saw the forwards mauling their way to the line allowing Nathan Watkins a clear run in to score in the corner (33-16).

With Cheltenham prop Cam Holenstein yellow carded for a high tackle, Ledbury were spurred into all-out attack, but were penalised close to the Cheltenham line.

Cheltenham were off the hook and were able to work their way back up the pitch and following a Ledbury penalty, Dan Spencer-Tonks was over for his second this time converted by Craig Holder (40-16).

Ledbury were roused by this and with Ed Bennion breaking the line on his own 22 released Joe Pugh who managed a run in from his own 22 to score a searing solo try, converted by Bubb(40-21).

Missed tackles again saw the Cheltenham winger break clear and put centre Will Naish over for a Craig Holder converted try (47-21). 

With their tails up the hosts continued to batter Ledbury but were unable to score again and the visitors had the last word, Jack Hughes scoring a peach of a try to give Ledbury their 4th and a much-needed bonus point.

Ledbury have a home match against Ludlow next Saturday (October 26) and will hopefully see further improvement as the squad continues to gel as a competitive unit.