WHITCHURCH Rugby Club have had a tough start to the new season, after being comfortably beaten 5-29 at home to Hereford Rugby Club.

The home side fielded a number of young players, but sadly youth was no match for experience as Hereford were comfortably the better team on the day.

Rob Leighton was the bright spark for Whitchurch though, scoring the home side’s solitary try.

Despite the less than ideal start to the season, head coach Scott Sturdy says that large number of young players in the squad will pay dividends in the future.

“Difficult second game for us at home with a number of young players making home debut," Sturdy said.

“This will pay off for the team and club in the long term but we lacked a physical presence in attack on Saturday and struggled to generate consistent goes forward and to be effective at the breakdown.

“Some unforced errors which Hereford capitalised on also made if a difficult afternoon for us.

“We hope to have a number of senior players returning over the next few weeks which should add some more depth, size and experience.”