HAVING made the trip to Banbury's impressive Bodicote Park stadium, Malvern Seconds got back to winning ways after their recent run of victories had been halted at Gloucester Spartans the previous Saturday.

BANBURY 2ND XV 5pts, MALVERN 2ND XV 17pts

Banbury's well-drilled back line opened the scoring after 15 minutes with a slick move from a line out, their centres cutting open Malvern's defence for a high quality but unconverted try.

Malvern showing all their recent tenacity, steadily absorbed further Banbury pressure, then turned the screw and forced the home side to give ground, creating chances for B Hughes and P Hart, but determined defending from the Oxfordshire outfit kept them at bay.

However it was only a matter of time before the visitor's forwards created the platform for wing B Hughes to outstrip Banbury's cover to score an unconverted try in the corner. Further Malvern chances were thwarted by a combination of good home defence and interesting refereeing, but with ten minutes to half time Malvern struck again with opposite wing C Williams sneaking in for a well taken try. A Hill's conversion attempt just falling short.

Ten minutes into the second half, the visitors had established a high degree of control, through powerful forward play, where flankers A Thomas and O Banwell excelled, and through quick, incisive back play with scrum half I White the pick of the bunch.

A rampaging attack by Malvern forced the home side to clear to touch, but from the lineout, a driving maul sucked in the Banbury defence and allowed D Green to score with a determined burst from five metres. A Hills converted to give Malvern a fined 17-5 victory.

Tomorrow (Saturday) a Malvern B XV are at away to Dudley Scorpions (2.30).