THIS Midlands Two West match against bottom of the league Bedworth always had the look of a home banker about it, and the Malvern team, keen to increase the all-important points difference, came out in hungry mood to insure this.
MALVERN 92pts, BEDWORTH 22pts
The deluge started in the fifth minute when Marc Gaubert released the ball and Mark Eastwood cut through the defence like a scythe to open the scoring with Andy Longley putting over the first of his 11 conversions.
Bedworth, hit by the absence of several regulars, looked hapless from the start and Malvern decided to run at them from anywhere on the field. On the quarter hour Longley, playing unfamiliarly on the wing, showed plenty of pace in a 50-metre glide to pop the ball inside to Eastwood for his second try.
Chris Smith stole a Bedworth line out ball and stand off Dan Cullen made the break, sending the ball along the line for Richard Fleming to go over. Fleming was again involved when John Martin broke through after Malvern collected the restart ball, making good yards to put skipper Dave Irish in.
Two more Eastwood tries in the 26th and 35th minutes saw his tally increase to four, then Malvern relaxed a little to allow Bedworth in for a soft try. Malvern replied when Gaubert exploded from the back of the scrum and nobody from Warwickshire seemed keen to stop him, but Bedworth, to their credit, fought back and took advantage of more sloppy defending to score another try just before half time.
With the score at 47-15 at the break, the second half was going to be a formality, Malvern full of running, and Steve Taylor, fearsome to behold when going forwards, resumed the Spring Lane side's scoring efforts ten minutes in to the half.
Malvern brought on all three replacements, Vince Hill for Adie MacBurney, Chris Williams for Fleming and James Anderson coming on at eight with Gaubert moving to Steve Cooper's prop berth. Williams immediately got involved, assisting Jon Martin's well-taken try, then Malvern took the foot off the pedal again and Bedworth came back to score again. Stung into retaliatory action, Malvern took control again and Cullen put Williams away for his first try.
He doubled his tally a few minutes later when Dave King's intelligent chip saw Williams win the race to ground the ball by several lengths. Cullen's efforts were rewarded with a try before Williams sealed what must have been the quickest hat-trick in Malvern's history after King and Eastwood had carved through the beleaguered Bedworth defence.
In the gathering gloom King finished off an awesome rugby day with a beautiful dummying run to take some of the hurt at his country's earlier defeat in the other big game of the day.
Coach Paul Essenhigh and director of rugby Dave Robins were delighted at the day's work, although not over happy at lapses of concentration which allowed Bedworth to score three times.
"It's all to easy to get blas when you are winning easily, and we must be on our guard against any complacency in future," said Robins.
"However, 14 tries from nine different players, and two hat-trick artists gave an already buoyant crowd plenty of entertainment. More importantly, it increased our point's difference significantly, which could be very important as the season progresses. The moves in position for Dan Cullen and Dave King worked well, whilst Julian Davis, debuting at scrum half, was excellent, harrying and cajoling his forwards and linking well with the back row and the midfield. Chris Williams was electric on the wing, whilst Mark Eastwood's power was amply rewarded. We now play Stoke at home next week with the difficult trip to Derby in two weeks.
Kick off at Spring Lane tomorrow (Saturday) is 2.15pm.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article