Match report

MATCH REPORT

15th November 2009

Ledbury U12s

Hereford Home

LEDBURY U12 A Continue Winning Streak With Clean Sheet Triumph Over Hereford.

Score: Ledbury A 19 Hereford 0

With a late switch of venue following Saturday’s torrential down pour Ledbury welcomed Hereford to their home ground for their first contest of the season.

From the Ledbury kick off Hereford were immediately under pressure as they failed to catch cleanly and the Ledbury pack were able to launch their first attack from the ensuing set piece scrum. The ball went down the line as far as Toby Hiram at outside centre, who tried to nip inside, leading to the first ruck. The ball emerged in the hands of Benedict Shimwell who linked with Will Butler and Sam Prestwich who were almost through early on but it came back to a scrum 5.

Hereford cleared their line as Ledbury took their foot off the pedal with some lazy passing resulting in a knock on and scrum Hereford. As the Ledbury pack gradually cranked up into the next gear the pressure built and, but for some stalwart defence by Hereford, their defence was almost breached.

Following concerted Ledbury pressure, it took an inspired dummy and switch of direction by Will Butler to eventually pierce the defence and score Ledbury’s first shortly before half time. Marcus Ballinger was most unfortunate to see his conversion kick rebound off the upright post.

The Hereford long restart kick was cleanly caught by Rory Bateson, linking with George Hemingway who was able drive Ledbury immediately back into the Hereford half. Yet again the Hereford defence was well organised and despite repeated probing Ledbury could not yet increase their score.

From a searching Hereford defensive kick Hugh Smith took a great catch on the run and his momentum propelled him within yards of the line, unluckily bundled into touch. This gave Ledbury the set piece platform to further attack and following some scrappy forward play from both sides Sam Prestwich at full back grabbed his chance with a fabulous scything run from deep to clinch the second Ledbury score, this time successfully converted by Will Butler.

Ledbury now felt they had the game and with the pack finally reaching top gear there was a sense of more to come. Ben Stevens and Sam Seaborn (who was unlucky not to ground the ball and score himself earlier) battled to gain possession and ultimately the ball was wrestled out to pack mate George Hemingway, always keen to get his name on the score sheet, and he was through with what seemed like six Hereford defenders strewn in his wake. This time Marcus Ballinger made no mistake with his conversion.

Ledbury were convincing winners against a strong Hereford side. Perhaps more significant was that this was the third game in succession that the A team has not conceded a score. Not to tempt fate, but it is beginning to look like fortress Ledbury!

Try Scorers:

              Will Butler

              Sam Prestwich

              George Hemingway

Conversions:

              Will Butler

              Marcus Ballinger

Ledbury A squad:

Hugh Smith, Will Butler, George Hemingway, Sam Prestwich, Sam Seaborn, Marcus Ballinger, Benedict Shimwell, Charlie Samwells, Rory Bateson, Ben Stevens, Cameron Hunter, Toby Hiram, Ben Savidge

Match 2: LRFC B v Hereford (DW)

Score: Ledbury U12 B 7 Hereford 10

Scorers for Ledbury:

Try: Dan Smith.

Conversion: Dan Clark

Team Sheet:

Owen Haymonds, Myles Burrett-Newland, George Watson, Oliver Jones, Tom Kinsella, Dan Smith, Dan Clark, Henry Thomas, Toby Cotton, Kieran Smith, Dan Hamlin, Amber Wilkins, Stuart Martin.

Replacements:

Alex Cole, Harry Harris, Rhodri Whittaker, Daniel Lane.

Hereford kicked off with the sun in their eyes and immediately found themselves on the back foot as Ledbury neatly collected and fed Toby Cotton who safely found touch with his clearance kick. Ledbury stole the ball from the ensuing lineout and, with little option available to him, Dan Clark found touch with an extraordinary raking kick which took Ledbury to within 5 metres of Herefords’ try line.

The visitors made a meal of their lineout and, from the resulting maul, Ledbury wrenched the ball quickly fed Dan Smith on the blindside to drive over the line taking a defender with him. Dan Clark took responsibility for the conversion and duly delivered the extra two points. Ledbury were deserving of the lead after a spritely start.

Unfortunately Ledbury allowed Hereford straight back into the game conceding possession subsequently making a hash of catching Herefords clearance kick. Under considerable pressure from a fired up Hereford, Ledbury conceded a penalty close to the try line. The visitors claimed the simplest of scores when they took the penalty quickly catching Ledbury’s defence off guard and eased past some soft tackling to touch down in the corner.

Hereford missed the conversion and the sides went into half time with the score 7-5 to the home team.

Ledbury reshuffled the team for the second half with Alex Cole and Harry Harris coming into the pack and Rhodri Whittaker and Daniel Lane taking their places on the wings.

Ledbury’s pack were playing impressively, particularly in the set piece scrums where they more than held their own against the visitors frequently serving up possession against the head. Unfortunately the visitors defence was well drilled and starved Ledbury of any further scoring opportunities.

Hereford had the final say when following some fine defensive work deep in their own half they pushed Ledbury back to their own line with a fine clearance kick. Ledbury failed to clear their own line and Hereford piled into the home defence to win the ball and drive over from close range.

Again they failed to convert, however, they had done enough to deservedly take the spoils in a hard fought contest.