MALVERN Rugby Club were rewarded for beating the big freeze with a 26-10 home win over Longton in Midlands One.
Although Longton were reluctant to play in the conditions they pin-ned Malvern in their own half for the first 15 minutes.
With a slippery ball mistakes were inevitable, but both sides tried to give the sizeable crowd a entertaining spectacle.
A cross-field kick from Longton stand-off Anthony Wheat only narrowly miss-ed being converted into a try as Rob Young gave the winger his full attention.
This put Malvern into attacking mode and hooker Darren Handy took a strike against the head to spur the home pack into action. They drove Longton back on their own put-in to win a five metre scrum, Dave Merlin peeling off the back to feed George Blakeway who burrowed over near the corner to open the scoring.
Malvern tails were up and the pack drove through to the Longton 22 metre line with over-desperate defence resulting in flanker Wood being shown the yellow card.
Malvern made the advantage tell when Merlin again broke out before Blakeway fed Richards who made a classic break to unselfishly pass to Young who scored with clinical accuracy in the 35th minute.
Longley missed the conversion and Longton rallied briefly to force a penalty from fly-half Wheat just before the break.
Malvern started the second half with determination and camped out on the Longton line for an age, the Potteries side's defence repelling wave after wave of attacks.
Eventually they cracked, conceding a penalty which Longley slotted over.
Malvern continued to press but Longton rallied briefly as the home side relaxed and full back Andrew Fyffe scored.
Wheat converted with 10 minutes to go.
As the game entered the final stages inside centre Simon Phillips hopped and jinked through to link up with the forwards, who set Young off on an electrifying run, forcing a penalty which Longley eased over.
In the last minute of normal time Longton attacked but fumbled and Young fly hacked and followed through to score and give Longley the chance of an easy conversion.
Malvern's director of rugby David Robins was pleased with the win.
He said: "We didn't see a classic but our pitch was the winner, holding firm to give Malvern the only senior game of rugby in the area.
"Our scrummage was excellent and we sniped away at a side who, psychologically did not want to play.
"Our back row snuffed out any real threat and we dogged it out for two valuable points.
"We now face a big fixture at Kenilworth next week in this closest of leagues."
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