Malvern U12s at Newent 21/02/10
Feb
Newent U12s - 26
Malvern U12s - 21
Malvern narrowly lost to a talented home squad but left with their heads held high having given their Hosts a lesson in how to play rugby in a competitive spirit without resorting to verbal histrionics or dubious tactics.
Making their customary slow start, Malvern lost possession from the kick off and seemed to invite a formidable Newent pack to attack them. The Home side used the possession well and drove Malvern over their try line but they failed to ground the ball. Given a second opportunity from the resulting five yard scrum Newent scored the opening try.
Five minutes later, an excellent counter attack from the Malvern forwards resulted in some desperate defence from Newent. Having pushed out the Visitor’s maul, Newent lost possession in the line out and some direct running and passing through the backs resulted in a Malvern try through Dan Batty.
Newent scored their second try before the end of the half but by then the game had deteriorated. Numerous Home side infringements went unpunished by an inconsistent referee leaving Malvern disrupted at the break down and unable to offload the ball to the backs or string together any attacking phases through the forwards. Malvern didn’t lose their discipline even though it was late into the first half that they were awarded their first penalty.
The second half started in a similar vein but the infringement count started to tell on the Malvern defence and it lost its width. Newent took full advantage of the wide pitch to run around the Malvern wings and score two more tries but they missed one of the conversions.
A change in referee after five minutes of the half changed the balance of the game and with more discipline at the break down Malvern made ground with some very impressive running from Harry Robinson. With Newent on the back foot, Jack Curtis broke and ran through several tackles to score Malvern’s second try. Minutes later Harry Robinson got a deserved break to score Malvern’s third try from a tap penalty which left them needing a converted try to win.
The game finished with Malvern making progress towards a winning try but a tired Newent defence managed to slow down their advance for long enough to secure the win at the final whistle.
