MALVERN'S Second XV played hosts to Aston OEs Seconds at Spring Lane on a fine if windy Saturday afternoon and produced another solid performance to rack up 41 points without reply.

MALVERN II XV 41pts, ASTON OLD EDWARDIANS II XV 0pts

Once again their powerful pack quickly gained supremacy in the scrum and line out, and faced with the aggressive mobility of flankers Stuart Clark and Andy Burns, the visitors struggled to gain meaningful possession in the loose.

The home side's new-look back division took time to find a rhythm with lack of communication causing attacking opportunities to be squandered. But with Dean White at scrum half marshalling his pack well and the cool head of George Blakeway at out half steadying the ship, Malvern's greater pace and inventiveness began to tell.

First, full back Richard Fleming joined the line to cruise over for the first score. Burns then gathered a pass on half way, showed great determination to break the tackle in midfield and outpaced the defenders to power over from 40 yards. Fleming adding the extra two points. Aston, stung into action, hit the rucks harder and created chances for their wingers. But good cover tackling, notably by the increasingly impressive Clark stemmed the flow.

A knock on five metres out under the posts foiled an excellent Malvern attack, but from the resulting scrum the Aston number nine was pressured into retreating over his own line. Burns relieved him of the ball and touched down for his second try. Fleming converted.

Shortly afterwards the game was held up for 20 minutes as a result of an unfortunate ankle injury to Aston's outstanding number eight. When play restarted, the visitors found an extra gear, and although still outplayed in the set piece, finished the half with their tails up.

From the restart Malvern had to work hard to re-establish control but when they did tries quickly followed. First Will Clee having his best game to date, finished a classic move. Then outside centre Sam Hunter capped an excellent performance with a try in the corner.

The re-invigorated Steve Cooper, who had replaced prop Mark Freestone, took on the Aston defence, sucked in the cover, then fed Clee who showed good hands to instantly release Varney to romp in.

The visitors had by now lost two players through injury and were down to 14 men. Malvern's replacement centre Stuart Smith sportingly pulled on an Aston jersey and performed well. But Malvern's game was in full flow and, following an excellent passage of play in which forwards and backs combined to get within ten metres of the line, Grant Fraser, who had replaced Fleming at full back, timed his run to perfection to join the line and cross under the posts. Burns humbly accepted the opportunity to convert for the extra two points as the final whistle sounded.