A BRIGHT, yet cold, afternoon greeted an Evesham 3rd XV team that travelled to Spring Lane as a last-minute replacement for a Chaddesley Corbett 2nd XV.

MALVERN III 10pts, EVESHAM III 7pts

Evesham decided to make the most of the slope and wind advantage in the first-half.

This, however, was not to be the case as strong forward play by newcomer Mark Chivers and the always reliable Rich Mutter allowed the pack to create opportunities for Carlton Douglas to produce breaking runs into the Evesham half. Rob Francis' kicking from open play allowed the Malvern line-out to take a command of the game in the first-half.

Despite this, however, the Evesham defence remained resolute, despite some good handling amongst the Malvern back-line, to keep it scoreless at half-time.

However, with the conditions and the pitch handing Malvern the advantage for the second half, they did not disappoint. Within five minutes of the restart, great possession play by the Malvern pack enabled Ade Sunter to take advantage of some missed Evesham tackling to distribute the ball across the field to Rob Martineau to crash over for the first try of the game.

Evesham's response saw quick play between the backs for them to take the lead as a converted try gave them a 7-5 advantage.

With less than quarter of the game to go, and Malvern dominating since the Evesham score, another break from Douglas allowed the pack to create a crashing run from Steve Campbell, who in turn passed to Simon Smith to score what proved to be the winning try.

The action did not end there as the game went to the last play, with Evesham entrenched in the Malvern 22, only for the outstanding Malvern defence to hold firm and give Mark Howells his first win as Malvern thirds captain.

Joint man-of-the-match went to Mark Chivers and Rob Francis.