THE rare appearance of one of the Malvern Pilkington Shield winning team, Mark Wolfe, added interest to this fixture against a very tough Gloucester side.

MALVERN III 24PTS, OLD RICHIANS II 18PTS

Malvern made a break through as early as the fifth minute when Gareth Davis, made a good break before setting up a ruck from which scrum-half Tim Jones could release Simon Cross, through on a crash ball, to score for a 5-0 lead.

Old Richians came back strongly pressurising the home side and forcing a penalty which they converted to narrow the gap 5-3.

With the home side battling hard to gain the upper hand, the visitors were forced to kick for distance to relieve the pressure. One of these kicks was charged down by Grant Frazer playing at inside center. Gareth Wynne was onto it like a flash, setting up a ruck, again Jones set up Frazer to crash over with a well-earned try. Ade Sunter converted for a 12-3 advantage.

Old Richians pounded the home defence and two trys with one conversion saw the visitors gaining a 12-15 lead by half-time.

Talks at half-time from the experienced voices of Wolfe and Sunter followed by more barking from Jones gave Malvern a purpose.

A flash of wizardry by Ade Sunter brought an excellent try and gave Malvern the lead at 17-15. The Old Richians full-back kicked a long distance penalty to put them back in the lead 17-18.

Malvern threw everyting at the visitors and eventually Gareth Wynne crashed over for the winning score. Sunter converted to end an excellent performance.