Malvern U13s at Dudley Kingswinford and Camp Hill 23/01/11
Jan
Dudley Kingswinford U13s A 14 - 14 Malvern Stags U13
Camp Hill U13s A 0 - 31 Malvern Bucks U13
After a cagey start to their fixture at DK, the Malvern Stags narrowly missed out on a decisive late try after dominating territory in the second half.
In the opening minutes a string of infringements saw Malvern easily driven back by DK and it appeared that the visitors might be struggling to recover from last week’s heavy loss at Worcester. After absorbing the defensive pressure and keeping DK off the scoreboard, the Malvern forwards came to life and put together a good series of pick up and run moves down the right that pulled the DK defence out of shape. Fifty hard yards later the ball was released to the backs to find Batty who made the most of the gaps and grounded the ball under the posts. Batty then converted his own try to put Malvern seven points ahead.
The Stags kept the pressure on DK and soon found themselves back in the home side’s territory. A turnover in a ruck on the DK line denied Malvern a second try in the twelfth minute but after regaining possession Malvern did not spurn their next opportunity. Curtis found the ball in a ruck and rushed the blind side to get behind the DK defence; having had the presence of mind to ground the ball between the posts he made it a formality for Batty to add the extra points.
DK were not completely out of the game so it was inevitable that they would have opportunities to attack and a well worked try and conversion towards the end of the first half reduced the deficit to keep it interesting. The second half started with another DK try as they once again showed what they are capable of when allowed to find space.
The remainder of the second half was scoreless but despite not being in total control of the scrum, Malvern put together some impressive forward play to keep DK on the back foot and were unfortunate not to add a winning scrum before the final whistle.
The predominantly development squad Bucks travelled to Camp Hill and started well with some good passing from Ladd and Hayes putting Whiteman in for two early tries. Despite the early setback, Camp Hill made some replacements in their line up and settled into the game but Malvern’s excellent scrum and lineout work ensured strong territorial advantage. The forwards were rewarded when Holmes and Howells took the initiative and crashed over for tries in quick succession.
The final part of the game saw the Malvern forwards dominating and securing plenty of ball for the backs to use with Forsyth putting in an all round solid performance. Whiteman was always dangerous given the good supply of ball and finished off with an excellent individual try from deep.
Howells kicked three conversions to round off a very cohesive team performance and a confidence boosting win.
