MALVERN II 20pts,
KENILWORTH II 5pts
MALVERN'S seconds produced a high-quality performance to run out winners against a determined and organised Warwickshire outfit containing several southern hemisphere imports.
With the hosts' squad virtually unchanged from the previous week's encounter with Leamington, their play showed improved cohesion and understanding, taking a confident Kenilworth by surprise and applying good early pressure.
In possession on halfway, the steadily improving stand-off Adam Dixon split the visitors' defence, gathered his own delicate grub-kick, made good ground, then passed out of the tackle to supporting flanker Liam Maloney, who crossed for a try in the corner. Dixon slotted the difficult conversion.
Using the impressive Maloney to good effect as an extra jumper in the line-out, and with their scrum rock-solid, the home side created several good attacks. When number eight Lee Varney linked with scrum-half Dave Green, a neat back row move saw wing Will Clee take a nicely delayed pass in full stride before racing through to extend Malvern's lead.
Playing up the slope, the visitors used the driving maul to make ground, locking in Malvern's forwards then spinning the ball out through their backs to wing Ian Thorougood, who finished well out wide.
The home side's strength up front, and the tenacity of flankers Stuart Clark and Maloney, began to frustrate the Warwickshire side.
When tempers frayed, the awarded penalty was stroked over by Dixon to give his side a 15-5 lead at the break.
As the second period progressed, Kenilworth again chose the drive, utilising the slope now in their favour, as their preferred method of attack.
Injuries to Malvern's skipper Vince Hill and Ben Ash saw the introduction of lock Richard Finch and the versatile Grant Fraser in the centre.
As the match progressed, further possession allowed the visitors to put width on their game.
Switching play they put the Spring Lane side under pressure but the host's flankers and centres combined well to close down the space in midfield, forcing their opposition into making speculative long passes which frequently failed to hit their target.
Gathering possession on the Kenilworth 40 metre line, Dixon showed confidence in drawing the defence before hitting Andy Longley with a fast, flat pass. The hugely experienced full-back timed his break well, effortlessly cruising through untouched from 30 yards to score a high-class try.
With Malvern's lead stretched to 15 points, the visitors appeared to lose direction and the hosts comfortably saw out the game.
Tomorrow (Saturday), Malvern seconds play Newport seconds at home, kick-off 3pm.
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