Home hope for Ledbury (From Ledbury Reporter)

Home hope for Ledbury

10:23am Friday 23rd November 2012 in Sport

LEDBURY Rugby Club must look to make the most of their home games when Old Wheatleyans visit Ross Road tomorrow (2.15pm).

The Herefordshire outfit have suffered a tough start to the campaign after promotion to Midlands Three West (South).

A heavy 55-14 defeat at second- placed Old Leamingtonians was their seventh loss in eight fixtures.

Ledbury return to home turf this weekend but sixthin- the-table Old Wheatleyans travel on the back of a 27-10 victory over Evesham.

A tough match at Leamingtonians was hindered by work and injury absences but the visitors put up a spirited display against powerful promotion challengers.

The hosts played controlled rugby, based on a strong scrum and line-out, with well-drilled backs looking to keep the ball alive.

Ledbury’s set-piece held up well, however, and they were in contention when centre Joel Skyers was injured.

It required a reshuffle of players into unfamiliar positions and then scrum-half Richard Chandler also went off after 30 minutes, leaving them with just 14 players.

With a half-time deficit of 24-0, Ledbury could have collapsed.

Instead, every player produced a superb secondhalf display to outscore Leamingtonians 14-12 at one point.

However, fatigue and the numerical advantage enabled the Warwickshire side to pull away with a string of excellent tries.

Ledbury centre Jamie Rayfield touched down and second row Greg Jones crashed over after sustained forward driving. Both tries were converted by George Bennion.

The return from injury of fly-half Kieran Hallam was the catalyst for fine tackling from the backs.

Combative efforts from Matt Cleland, James Seager and Pete Dixon inspired the other forwards.

Dan Hicks, Tim Nolan and Greg Jones worked hard after promotion to the firsts.

All three Ledbury teams are at home tomorrow and a bumper crowd is expected with the internationals being televised at the club.

Meanwhile, full-back Cam Hunter bagged two tries as Ledbury under 15s saw off Bredon Star 43-0 in the North Midlands Cup first round.

Steve Howie, Jonno Evans, Ben Shimwell and George Hemingway also dived over, while the latter added five conversions and a penalty.