MALVERN'S U17 Pirates powered through to the second round of the North Midlands U17 Cup with an impressive performance against Hereford at Wyeside last Sunday.

HEREFORD U17s 12pts, MALVERN U17 Pirates 54pts

The home side were reeling at 35-0 by the half-time break as a full-strength Pirates backline showed their pace and deft handling skills to run in five unanswered tries with one each from Andy Tighe and John Brierly and three from Sam McCoy, who kicked all five conversions.

The platform for Malvern's first- half success was due to their pack, which was possibly the biggest and most mobile the Pirates have put out this season. The front row of Clewer, Redman and Chandler backed up by Snow and new boy Chris Chrysial in the second row, ran amok in the loose to give scrum-half Jack Knowles the ideal platform to set the back row trio of Green, Woods and Reed on the rampage in the midfield.

Just after half-time, McCoy picked up an injury and was replaced by Craig Smith. Immediately the flighty winger made a big impression with a classic try in the corner from a nicely-placed grubber-kick by centre Phil Shore. The conversion by full-back Brierly from the touchline sailed effortlessly through the uprights and Malvern were 42-0 in front.

Hereford finally put the Pirates under pressure with a smartly placed kick at the restart and after a missed tackle Hereford were over the try line for their first try.

Malvern responded when full-back John Brierly danced through the confused Hereford defence from 30 metres to score Malvern's seventh try of the day.

Malvern's man-of-the-match flanker Chris Reed sealed victory with a well-deserved try between the posts giving Brierly the easiest of conversions to send Malvern through by 54-12.