AFTER the pre-Christmas upsets against Hinckley and Burton, the Malvern first XV travelled to Rugby with renewed determination to revive their challenge for promotion.

OLD LAURENTIANS 7PTS, MALVERN 26pts

Starting with the strong, gusting wind behind them, the players showed plenty of purpose from the off as flanker Nick Smith took the ball on deep into Laurentian territory.

With only five minutes on the clock the pack had won a scrum five metres from the home line and Jamie Anderson barrelled his way over to open the scoring for the visitors and Longley put over the conversion.

The Malvern forwards stamped their authority in the tight, with Lancett having a monstrous battle with his opposite number in the front row. Such was Malvern's dominance that it took a quarter of the game for the home side to cross into Malvern territory.

Before that, Dave King had made a couple of classic breaks through the OL's defence, one taking him almost to the line. On 15 minutes, Malvern won a line-out and the ball was moved swiftly across the back line for Tom Green to score in the corner. Longley did superbly to put over the conversion from the touchline with the wind still gusting unpredictably.

In the 21st minute the Malvern forwards drove a maul onwards before scrum half Davies set King on his way again on another break. He popped the ball to Nick Major to score under the posts and set up another conversion by Longley.

Three clear scores in front and with the gale still at their backs, the Malvern side was well in control and running smoothly.

Every time Malvern went on the attack, Mark Eastwood's strong running was giving Laurentians all sorts of problems in trying to contain him. The powerful centre always seemed to make a further 10 metres each time an attempt was made to stop him, which allowed second phase to be set up and the pressure to be maintained.

The second half saw Malvern playing into the wind but determined not to allow Laurentians back into the game. The coaching instructions were to keep play tight and the ball in hand. Kicking against such a strong wind had let OLs down in the first half and Malvern weren't about to make the same mistake.

True to form, they moved the ball upfield, Davies made a half break and set up a movement across the field which ended with Adain Ruddock going over to seal the match only five minutes into the second period.

Laurentians made repeated attempts to get back into the game, but in truth the Malvern defence had little trouble in coping with their efforts until 10 minutes from time, when a good controlled maul finished in a consolation try.