KENILWORTH have proved to be a tough hurdle for Malvern over the last few seasons and for the first 25 minutes of this Midlands Two West match it appeared to be much of the same.

KENILWORTH 7PTS, MALVERN 31PTS

Both sides found it hard to build any rhythm into their play, with many spillages of the ball and frequent stoppages for knocking on.

Andy Longley took a while to find his kicking form, the King's School teacher missing with two early penalty attempts, but Malvern slowly began to gain the ascendancy.

Aidan Ruddock and John Drage were instrumental in stealing the home side's line-out ball, the scrum again held fast and the centre pairing of Mark Eastwood and Steve Ott always threatened to punch holes in the middle.

It was ironic, therefore, that the opening score came from Kenilworth, when Malvern put together the best move of the match to date but spilled the ball and the home backs sped through on the counter for White to score and Roberts to convert.

This was a wake up call to Malvern, who responded instantly. Winning a scrum, the ball was whipped out to Eastwood, who cut back to the short side and linked up with his winger. The ball was passed back inside to Anderson for an almost unopposed run in to score, giving Longley a simple conversion to level things up at 7-7.

This spurred Malvern on and play became more cohesive and Kenilworth were pinned back in their own half for long periods. Longley's intelligent chip found touch five metres out, Kenilworth conceded a penalty for infringing at the line-out and Malvern went for the throw in again. Employing the catch and drive, Malvern's superior pack trundled over the line for Nick Smith to score and Longley to bag the extras.

Kenilworth put together some good moves as they rallied towards the end of the half, but the Malvern defence stayed strong and stifled any danger.

The second period opened with Malvern going on all-out attack but squandering a couple of good scoring chances by opting for dropped goal attempts, both of which were charged down.

There were still errors from both sides but Malvern were beginning to take overall control

Skipper Matt Richardson and fellow prop Shaun Lancett were much in evidence in the loose as well as locking up the set pieces, whilst Tom Davies again seemed to be everywhere with his crunching tackles.

Ollie Banwell came on for Anderson, who injured his shoulder, to show what depth of strength Malvern currently have in the back row. Steve Ott put in a crunching tackle on his opposite number, who failed to release the ball and Longley's resultant penalty gave Malvern a cushion of 10 points.

On the hour, Malvern again harried Kenilworth deep in their own half at the line out, the ball was moved quickly to Eastwood whose punching run released Ott to score and Longley to convert.

The full back later joined the line and looked to have a clear scoring opportunity but knocked forward.

Malvern weren't finished and when Kenilworth could only clear to 20m out, the pack, now boosted by the enormous presence of James Hynes, caught the throw and drove the maul all the way to the line, Shaun Lancett gleefully claiming the score and Longley putting over the kick which took him to the top of the kicker's table.

With Stafford losing at Aston OE's, Malvern are top on points difference from Burton.