MALVERN U16 Pirates are often inconsistent, but when they play well they can be awesome and they played well in last Friday evening's match at Spring Lane.

MALVERN U16 Pirates 55pts, BRIDPORT U16s 5pts

They played host to Bridport U16s, who were on the first leg of an Easter rugby tour of Worcestershire and Warwickshire.

The Bridport team arrived with a big reputation of playing hard West Country rugby, with their experienced pack of forwards as their biggest asset to their recent run of success. Sure enough, from the off, the tourists tested Malvern's defence as they made big in-roads into the Malvern half. But the Pirates held firm and a turn-over gave the home side the chance to counter. Slick handling by Malvern saw the ball move wide for Welsh U16 international Sam McCoy to break free to put Malvern in front with a converted try.

Over the next ten minutes, the boisterous Bridport supporters were slowly struck dumb as Malvern extended their lead to 21 points after similar passages of play ended with tries for winger Craig Smith and a second for full-back McCoy.

Bridport were clearly shell-shocked and as Malvern made their first change of players at the mid-point of the half, there was hope in the tourist's camp that the onslaught was over. However, Pirates were now playing the game they love best and with the ball alive and in their possession, the home side pressed relentlessly forward.

A speculative Garry Owen from winger Dai Morgans was chased-up and Malvern won a penalty on the Bridport 22 when the beleaguered full-back failed to release the ball after Morgans' crunching tackle. Jack Knowles opted for a tap-kick and with ball moving through the hands of Longley, Shore and Wood, Liam Moloney was on the end of the move to extend Malvern's lead to 28 unanswered points.

The Bridport supporters had to endure further agony when the Malvern pack went on the rampage after Stefan Milosavljevich stole a line-out just outside the tourists' 22. The ball was expertly recycled by the Malvern forwards as they rumbled towards the Bridport line, using the ruck and maul to great effect, before centre Adam Diaz received a wide pass from Matt Tighe to cross the try-line to put Malvern ahead by 33-0 at half-time.

Both teams ran the bench at the break but it was Bridport who took the initiative when play recommenced. The visitors finally played to their strength and for the first time in the match, the Bridport pack were making themselves noticed as they ground their way forward with pick-and-drive moves. A penalty kick to touch for an infringement by Malvern gave Bridport a good field position and despite holding the visitors out for five long minutes, a mix-up in the Malvern in-goal area was punished and Bridport had their first points on the board.

The game entered a period of stalemate, with both sides tackling each other to a stand-still until Malvern centre Phil Shore made a powerful half-break to get behind the Bridport defence. Malvern prop and man-of-the-match, Ben Clewer was in close support and after brushing off several would-be tacklers, the big prop-forward found the eager hands of number 8 David Wood, who coasted in for the score.

Minutes later, the Malvern back three of McCoy, Jon Lewis and Craig Smith mounted a stunning counter attack after the restart and before Bridport could recover, Smith's raw pace outstripped the defenders for a brace of tries to put Malvern 42-5 in front.

Longley returned at fly-half and Tighe moved to the centre with Diaz making way for Shore on the outside. The changes had an immediate effect and with Tighe drawing the defenders in-field, it was Shore who delighted the crowd and wrapped up the game up for Malvern with two spectacular tries from breaks made inside the Malvern half. The conversion by McCoy took the full-backs' personal tally to 20 points and also signalled the end of the match and an impressive 55-5 win for the Pirates.