Malvern U13s home to Ledbury 14/11/10
Nov
Malvern U13s 12
Droitwich U13s 12
In a game that was not easy on the eye, Malvern found themselves on the receiving end of a Droitwich onslaught but managed to pull themselves back into the running to finish all square.
Droitwich kicked off and immediately regained possession with some powerful rucking. Having secured the ball they pushed Malvern back and came close to scoring on the right. Given the opportunity to relieve the pressure with a twenty two drop, Malvern conceded far too much territory allowing the visitors to run at them and create their first try after three minutes.
Expectations were raised when the home side appeared to wake up and started to make good progress into the opposition half. Having reached the Droitwich twenty two a knock on halted progress and allowed the visitors to regroup and counter attack. Five minutes later, Malvern were back into Droitwich territory but once again knocked on to hand the initiative back to the opposition forwards. A last gasp Hayes tackle prevented the Droitwich counter attack from scoring a second try on the left but having held them back, Malvern again failed to take the game to their opponents and conceded a try as Droitwich switched to the right.
Having made little headway, it was left to Malvern outside centre Robinson to end the half with a trademark try to give the home side something to build upon.
Droitwich started the second half with a determined maul that pushed Malvern back deep into their own territory. They were rewarded with a free kick on the twenty two when they broke from the maul and a well worked restart was just held up on the try line.
Malvern’s second try came against the run of play when Robinson once again broke on the right wing and sensibly ran the ball under the posts to improve the chances for the conversion. Batty stepped up and converted to even the game up and give Malvern hope for a win but they made little impact in attack for the remainder of the half. Malvern held on to the draw with a combination of dogged defending and very good defensive decision making and kicking in their five yard area.
An untidy game for the most part but it is unlikely that Droitwich will face another side this season that will be more determined to hold onto a game when things aren’t working out for them.
