MALVERN Rugby Club start their Midlands Two West campaign tomorrow (Saturday) when Leamington are the visitors to Spring Lane (3pm).

Following a number of training injuries and players leaving for higher-graded clubs, Malvern will be putting out one of the youngest first XVs for many years.

Director of rugby Dave Robins said: "This is going to be a fairly critical season for us and at the moment we only have seven or eight players from last season in the team.

"Dave King, our major player from last season, injured a cruciate in training and this is a bitter blow. New signing number eight Gareth Taylor, from Stourbridge, has trained hard but has just had an operation and will be out for around six weeks, similar to flanker Phil Rawle, who has also had an operation."

Robins said if the club can get through to the end of October with some good performances things will then pick up as players become available and he still hopes to make one major signing.

"We have to play some untried players, some that have come through the youth development section. It may be a little early for them, but if we can get 100 per cent commitment on the field it will make up for the lack of experience."