HOLDERS Malvern Rugby Club were knocked out of the North Midlands Cup when Luctonians clinched a 21-18 semi-final victory yesterday.

The visitors opened the scoring at Mortimer Park through a third minute Richard Fleming penalty and took the game to their hosts.

The first half was often marred by niggle between the two packs as some old scores were brought to the forefront, but when the sides concentrated on playing rugby it was all fast and furious, typical cup-tie stuff.

Jeremy Wheadon's penalty saw the sides draw level, then Lucs made a sustained attack on the Malvern line, sucking in the defence to create the extra man with James Owen going over.

Malvern replied with spirit, Nick Smith seemingly everywhere as they put Lucs on the back foot for long periods.

Sam Hardcastle, Gareth Richards and Fleming linked before putting Mark Eastwood on the charge to even the scores in the 27th minute. More tempers flared and the ref issued a general warning to both skippers as Malvern put the Lucs defence under intense pressure. In the 34th minute the Malvern pack drove Lucs back on their own line and hooker Chris Pemble touched down. Before Hardcastle converted, Malvern skipper Vince Hill tripped over a Luctonians player after being shoved and the referee bizarrely sent him off for stamping. Luctonians made the most of the extra man advantage to take play up field and score through Owen just before half time.

Marc Gaubert made his presence felt almost immediately after the break, a crunching tackle making a Lucs lock see stars.

Luctonians took the lead through a Wheadon penalty, much against the run of play, but Malvern again pinned the Herefordshire side back in their own 22.

However, the hosts struck a killer blow with 10 minutes left when scrum half Steve Saint broke on the blind side and sent flying winger Andrew Garrod on a 75 metre scoring run, despite the despairing efforts of the Malvern defence to catch him. Hardcastle pulled back a penalty in the 73rd minute, but despite Malvern's sustained assault on the Lucs line, they were unable to get that all important score.

Malvern now go into their crucial final game with Bromsgrove on Saturday determined to maintain their Midlands One status.

n Worcester Wanderers demolished Bromyard 102-3 at Sixways on Saturday in a rearranged North Midlands One fixture.

Number eight Will Orgee led the try scoring spree with four tries while full back Joph Young helped himself to three.

Only scrum half Lee Watson failed to register on the scoresheet in a backline that ran riot on the hard surface at Sixways.