RUGBY Lions were clashing with Worcester five years ago in the upper reaches of the National Leagues, but have been on a downward slope since then, dropping into Midlands One this year.

MALVERN 5PTS, RUGBY LIONS 56PTS

On the evidence of Saturday's Intermediate Cup tie, it won't be long before the famous old side is back in the upper ranks.

Fielding a mixture of semi-professional experience and young, home groomed talent, the Lions were very well-drilled and a good yard faster than the plucky Malvern side.

The Spring Lane youngsters were full of running and harried and tackled their hearts out all afternoon. However, the speed to the breakdown of the Rugby back row, plus the superior firepower in the set scrum, meant that Malvern's amateurs were destined to feed off scraps all afternoon.

The visitors opened the scoring after seven minutes of patient build up, pressuring the Malvern defence until the inevitable gap opened for the full-back to score.

However, it was not until the 20th minute that they could add to the lead, as Malvern took play back to the Warwickshire side. Burns and Roberts again stood out in the centre, full of running and demonic tackling, whilst new stand-off Ryan Martin impressed the large crowd.

Disaster struck midway through the first half as line-out specialist Chris Smith came off with suspected broken bones in his foot. Missing his height, Malvern were now short of options, although Aidan Ruddock more than held his own on the home throw-in.

Rugby increased the tally with a catch and drive on the half hour, but were lucky when the referee failed to spot a well-forward pass which saw the stand-off run in another score.

At 22-0, the game was going much as expected, but Malvern's spirit showed through when Martin's long kick-off was followed-up well and they forced a five- metre scrum. Rugby conceded two penalties for offside as they tried to stifle the Malvern attack and had a flanker sin-binned. With Malvern scrum-half White directing operations, a patient build-up went through five phases of play until a cross-kick into the goal area saw Ruddock charge through to touch down to the delight of the crowd.

A couple of minutes into the second-half, misfortune again struck Malvern as Alex Thomas, going for the big hit, suffered a knee injury. Phil Snare came on as replacement although still nursing a back injury.

Rugby started to move up a gear as the gap in league status between the two teams began to show. Their big forwards were full of confident running and they laid-off the ball well, committing the Malvern tacklers and prising open the defence.

Three more scores by the hour mark put the Lions comfortably out of sight before a skirmish saw the referee show the red card to Malvern skipper Matt Richardson for an offence which it appeared he did not commit. Down to 14 men, Malvern bravely defended and managed to limit further damage to just two tries.

Tomorrow (Saturday) Malvern return to league duty with a visit to Newbold.

The second XV entertain Pershore at Spring Lane (3pm).