HERFORD RFC head coach Scott Sturdy was left rueing his side dropping ‘numerous’ high balls and poor discipline as they fell to a 20-15 defeat at A49 rivals Ludlow RFC.

At the interval the Wyesiders looked well in control at 3-15 ahead, but Ludlow shaded the second half adding 17 points and running out winners.

“An excellent first half performance, we executed our game plan perfectly.” said Sturdy “There were two great tries scored.

“It was a difficult second half, error strung by some players, dropping numerous high balls and poor discipline.

“This allowed Ludlow back into the game. As the game settled, we came back into, but couldn’t find the points to win the game.

“Again, an improved performance, but close isn’t close enough.”

After 10 minutes, Hereford kicked to touch from a penalty and from the lineout Ollie Hutcheson won good ball. The ball was moved through hands into mid-field than back towards touch.

Joe Vaughan made ground up the wing, before Iwan Holder broke through and off loaded to Tom Broad who finished in style. Holder converted to give Hereford a seven-point lead.

Ludlow reduced the deficit with a penalty goal before the Wysiders struck again.

Some Ludlow pick and go from inside their 22 was halted by Hereford and the resulting relieving kick was run back and moved across field to Broad who transferred to Josh Wright.

Wright kicked ahead and followed up to beat the Ludlow defence and touch down for the second try.

Just before half-time, Holder added a penalty to take the interval score to 3-15 and with Hereford good value for their lead.

Ludlow came back out fired up and within ten minutes of the restart had registered two tries.

They were soon camped on the Hereford goal-line and after a spell of pick and go, they opened up and crossed for a try under the posts.

Only minutes later they pushed over from a scrum, despite having lost a man with a yellow card.

One of the tries was converted to bring the scores level at 15-15.

Ludlow seemed now to have solved their first half problems whereas Hereford had developed some of their own.

Mid-way through the half Hereford conceded a penalty inside their 22.

Ludlow kicked to the corner and won the lineout; they moved the ball wide and a hole appeared in the Hereford defence for a forward to run through for the third Ludlow try.

Hereford settled down into the final 20 minutes, but despite a lot of hard work were unable to pull back the 15-20 deficit.

The 1870s had a good first half performance away at Woodrush, but suffered a similar fate to their Hereford team-mates.

Woodrush came on strong in the second half and came away with a 26-7 victory. Dean Powell scored all the 1870s points with a try and conversion.

Next week HRFC entertain Moseley Oak and the 1870s travel to Pershore.