Dudley Kingswinford 41 - Malvern 19
Malvern were slow to get going at Heathbrook on Saturday against a very sharp and high riding DK outfit. Whilst the visitors started as though they had just got off the bus, the home side took the ball on from the kick off, winning a penalty to open the scoring. In the sixth minute, a penalty kick took DK deep into the Malvern 22, the resultant catch and drive ending with a home scrum. From this, ex Worcester and Coventry playmaker Higgins nipped through a sluggish Malvern defence to score a converted try. Malvern then took the ball into DK territory, but two kickable penalties were missed which would have brought them back into the game. Adam Billig then made good inroads but having released the ball to be taken on the final pass opportunity was wasted. Malvern were made to pay as the technically gifted DK pack took the ball on a Malvern put-in and fed it to the rapacious Shillingford after a dummy scissors move. They followed this up with a running move by the back line for a third try by Langford on 21 minutes, then secured the bonus point five minutes later with a kick and chase try from Farrington. Malvern were being outplayed up front and securing very little good ball, but when they did get it in hand were looking dangerous. Having decided to salvage something from a game already looking lost, they moved the ball at pace and Luke Milton joined the line to score in the corner on the half hour, the score remaining at 27-5 until the break.
Malvern started the second period with great resolve and battled into the home 22, a penalty followed by a catch and drive seeing Chris Griffiths go over in the corner and Adam Dixon converting.DK responded when Higgins again called a play which saw Shillingford take a delayed pass to wrong foot the defence and score a converted try. Malvern kept plugging away after weathering more DK pressure and a Dixon grubber kick saw Milton speed through to collect and score to make the score a more respectable 34-19. However, as Malvern tried to finish the match in style by running the ball with an overlap from behind the goal line, Tideswell intercepted a lofted pass to touch down for a final converted try.
Malvern director of Rugby Andy Longley said “We competed well for 60 minutes. Unfortunately DK had won the game in the first 20, outplaying us in the set pieces with their well-drilled pack and setting their very sharp back line away. DK have some well-seasoned players who were able to capitalise on Malvern’s youth and inexperience. Although Adam Billig in particular made inroads many times, we were unable to turn any pressure we had into points because of some poor decision making with the final pass.”
At present the Malvern side is very much a work in progress, exciting with ball in hand but rather inexperienced and raw in some areas. However, the coaching team are working hard on area of weakness as Malvern go into a period where they have three fixtures against sides in mid table or lower. Longley sees this as an opportunity to climb back up the table. “We have played all the top teams – now we must capitalise by taking points against sides in similar positions to ourselves, starting with Broadstreet this Saturday.”
Kick off at Spring Lane is 2.15pm.
