MALVERN U16s had a difficult game on Sunday as right from the start, Sutton Coldfield showed they were a powerful and determined team.

MALVERN U16S 24pts, SUTTON COLDFIELD 12pts

After a series of phases, the away team's forwards caught Malvern back-peddling towards their own line. It wasn't until Malvern conceded a converted try under the posts that they started to knuckle down at 7-0 down.

From kick-off, the ball was retrieved by captain Lee Collins. The Malvern pack stepped up a gear to drive another 20 metres until the ball was then released out to the backs by Craig Doyle. A well-executed set move created a huge gap in the Sutton Colfield defence. Andy Tighe took advantage of it and blazed his way 30 metres for a try under the posts. It was converted by Oli Rayner to make it 7-7.

After a tiring first-half, fitness levels started to show and only five minutes into the second-half, the strong Malvern pack drove the ball into the opposition's 22. The referee awarded Malvern a penalty for ill-discipline, which was slotted over by Rayner for another three points.

With a tight score of 10-7, the visiting team decided to play a kicking game. A line-out was won by Malvern and a consistently clean catch by Luke Armatage set flanker Chris Griffiths off for an 60 metre run, ploughing through the defence for yet another try. It was converted to make the score 17-7.

After a few phases of excellent rugby, Sutton Coldfield found themselves on the Malvern five metre line again.

The defence was finally broken for a try which was unconverted to make the score 12-17.

Sutton Coldfield were then given another chance to get some valuable points on the board but missed a penalty in front of the posts some 25 metres out.

It was caught by full-back Matt Williams to the left of the posts. The speedster then sprinted three-quarters of the pitch from his own goal-line, supported by his team- mates. Some how the ball was turned over and a scrum was given to the away team. Poor service from the Sutton Coldfield scrum-half made it hard for their fly-half to get his clearance kick away.

Rush defence put the pressure on the kicker, whose effort was charged down by Malvern's number 10 Oli Rayner, who then dived on the awkwardly bouncing ball for the final try of the game. He then converted to keep up his 100 per cent kicking performance.

The final score was 24-12 to Malvern and took them through to the semi-finals of the North Midlands plate.