OLD Laurentians came to Spring Lane intent on causing a cup upset and certainly got the best of their higher rated hosts for the first half of this exciting Powergen Senior Cup Midland qualifying match.

MALVERN 22pts, OLD LAURENTIANS 15pts

Richard Fleming, who put in an assured performance at full back, opened the scoring for Malvern with a third minute penalty, but Laurentians went on the offensive and forced two penalties. Fortunately for Malvern, the OLs kicker was to have an off day, but their lively pack and elusive backs kept troubling the home side. Out-scrummaged in the front five, Malvern's mobile back row forwards didn't have enough of a platform to set up attacking moves, although new scrum half Sam Hardcastle impressed the large crowd with a fine performance feeding off scraps. On 20 minutes a cross-field kick set up a Laurentians overlap and full back Dave Wallis touched down in the corner. Fleming put Malvern back in the lead with a penalty three minutes later, but the fiery Laurentians pack took control with a series of driving mauls. Reiter and Dave Hill impressed at flanker with their defensive play, whilst John Martin in the centre showed a lot of verve.

However, in the close play the OLs had the edge, snaffling any loose ball, although often illegally when the referee was unsighted. Two breakaway tries which exposed the Malvern defensive cover just before half time gave coach Andy Cushing some hard talking to do during the break.

Malvern stared the second half in resolute mood and slowly began to take the upper hand, despite having Andy Logan sin binned. Fleming had slotted his third penalty in the 48th minute and Malvern made light of the one-man deficit, their superior fitness giving them the edge. As the referee began to spot the persistent Laurentian infringements, the Warwickshire side's discipline started to break down and Malvern tightened their grip, keeping play in the opposition 22-metre area. Marc Gaubert replaced Paul Hart and introduced himself immediately to his opponents in his normal fashion. The sin binning of a Laurentians player galvanised Malvern even more and they forced a string of penalties, culminating in Fleming's fourth score. As Laurentians counter-attacked, Beech cleared, then Hardcastle charged down a Laurentians kick to keep the pressure on. That pressure paid off when Malvern forced a 5-metre line out, skipper Vince Hill secured the ball and the pack drove on for Dave Hill to score with eight minutes left. Having taken back the lead, Malvern were intent on securing the game and did so when Rob Young followed up a lofted kick to put the finishing touches to a hard fought victory.

New captain Vince Hill was pleased with the win, but acknowledged, "It can only get better."

Director of Rugby David Robins was upbeat about some individual performances, especially Richard Fleming who "put in the best performance I have seen him play in the first XV. Sam Hardcastle, Simon Reiter and Dave Hill also impressed, whilst John Martin also looked sharp." He was, however, worried about the tight scrimmaging, acknowledging that this would be addressed in training.

Malvern's reward is another home tie against highly-rated Walsall at Spring Lane this Saturday (September 7), kick off 3pm.