MALVERN Under 16's recorded their first win of the season in a very entertaining game played in an excellent spirit.

MALVERN UNDER 16 XV 39pts, BIRMINGHAM EXILES UNDER 16 XV 7pts

After an initial scare that put Malvern on the back foot Adam Dixon took a quick penalty and Simon Puttick powered over for an unconverted try in the corner. Soon after a high up an under was secured by the chasing centres and Alex Chew coming up in support used his sized and determination to score another excellent but unconverted try.

A third unconverted try was scored by centre James Clarke capitalising on dropped ball and after a controlled kick and chase managed to ground the ball before the opposition. Hesitation from the kick off allowed Birmingham to camp in Malvern's half and eventually their pressure paid off with a converted try near the posts.

Malvern responded well in the second half with wide ball allowing Stuart Bryant to run in two well taken tries, one converted by Adam Dixon and a second try by Simon Puttick who had covered every bald e of grass.

The basics were much improved to allow time and space for the backs with excellent clearing out of rucks and mauls. The final try, again converted by Adam Dixon, was scored by Man of the Match Simon Baker, whose shuddering tackling and all round play and support suggest a very bright future.

MALVERN Under-14s are in the quarter finals of the North Midlands cup after another resounding victory, all the more creditable for being won away from home against a team with a considerable height and weight advantage.

The latest victims of Adam Blackmore's fast-improving side were Droitwich, beaten 48-0 in front of their home crowd. A second consecutive clean sheet was as satisfying as the customary glut of tries, and there was a shape and fluidity to much of the play which bodes well for matches against stronger opposition in later rounds.

The match may well have been won before the game started. The only thing which Droitwich stretched during the warm-up was their vocal cords, and Malvern caught them cold straight from the kick-off. The front row conjured one against the head at the very first scrum, the ball flew along the threequarter line and Chris Prosser set the pattern for the rest of the morning by outsprinting the cover defence to touch down. Ross Tolley converted. Within 20 minutes the score was 31-0, with another try for Chris Prosser, two for Tom Kennedy-Hughes and a typical opportunist effort by Matt Tigh. In each case the platform was set by the forwards, dominant throughout against a much bulkier pack. It was only on either side of half-time that Droitwich posed any kind of threat with a period of sustained pressure aided by a string of pedantic penalties. But Malvern kept them at bay and then killed any hope of a revival with a typical counter-attack. The forwards drove the home pack off the ball at a ruck, the half-backs made good use of the turnover and Tom Kennedy-Hughes was on hand to score his third try. Chris Prosser also completed a hat-trick, before Adam Green completed the rout with a solo effort from the base of the scrum.

This was another excellent team effort, in which everyone made a telling contribution. The competition will become more difficult from now on, but Malvern are playing with enough flair and confidence to give a good account of themselves whichever opponents the cup draw puts in their way.

Malvern U13s "Pirates" 41pts, Birmingham Exiles U13s 0pts.

Malvern U13's chalked up their first win of the season at Spring Lane last weekend with a seven-try feast against Birmingham Exiles. The visitors arrived late and short of numbers through injury and they failed to settle into a game despite the presence of capable home players who "volunteered" to make up the side. Nevertheless, the Exiles put in a spirited performance but the game was dominated by Malvern throughout.

Malvern winger and "man-of-the-match" David Morgans, claimed a brace of tries early in the first half. The first came from a classic three-quarters move and strong running from Morgans and the second followed a counter attack started by Morgans himself with an aggressive tackle on his opposite number just inside the Malvern half. Captain Will Bowen ran in a third try completing a powerful wide passing move from the Malvern threequarters that easily out-flanked the Exiles defence.

After half time, scrum-half Rhys Coles played a nicely timed free kick into the path of Will Bowen who powered through the Birmingham line to score. Birmingham then rallied strongly and Malvern full-back Richard Mason was called upon with some well-executed defensive tackles to maintain the zero scoreline. In the final phase of play, the Exiles became demoralised while the "Pirates" game continued to improve. Controlled recycling of possession by the Malvern forwards allowed fly-half John Brierly to run in three tries, all of which he converted himself.

Malvern prop-forward, Sam Stone played a solid game for the visitors, while Alex McToal, Gareth Preston, Nick Amos and David Morgans all played with commitment for one half with the Birmingham side.

Special thanks to Sean Moloney for his services as match referee.

Ledbury U12's 0pts, Malvern U12's 56pts

Everybody tackled and nearly everybody scored. Within six minutes, Malvern had comfortably established a three try lead and Ledbury were looking decidedly disjointed as the visitors heaped on the pressure

The greatest threat to Malvern at this point and for the remainder of the match was not to become undisciplined. With such a feast of try scoring, the Malvern team did start to play "me-ball" and for a while there was very little passing of the ball. This was cured by the Malvern coach insisting the ball went through three pairs of hands before touchdown! The advice worked and by half time, Malvern had set an unassailable lead of 42-0.

Ledbury put up stiffer opposition in the second half and made life more difficult for Malvern who remained camped close to the Ledbury line for long periods. Eventually, the Ledbury resolve collapsed and Malvern ran in two more converted tries with final score 56-0 to Malvern.

All eight were successfully converted by the try-scorers - a good achievement. Simon Bott, the Under 12's coach would not single out individual players for special praise as teamwork won the day although improvements are needed in the scrum, line out, communication and body position going into contact. Simon Bott is hopeful that more Year 7 children will now think about joining his U12 squad to bolster the numbers and add a bit of "in-house" competition for places. Special thanks to Christine Lofthouse for repairs to the set of "hand-me-down" pre-Pilkington Shield playing shirts from the Malvern 1st XV that significantly improved the team's appearance and performance! Potential "recruits" and shirt sponsors should contact Simon Bott on 01684 573728.