MALVERN struggled to come to terms with league leaders Broadstreet and ended up on the wrong end of a 29-5 scoreline.

They made five changes to the side who won against Newbold the previous week and they lost stand-off Dave Wilkinson after just two minutes with an eye injury.

Malvern forced Broadstreet into errors and infringements early on, three of which were punished by the boot of Steve Ott, giving Malvern an unexpected 9-0 lead at half-time.

It wasn't just in the loose where Malvern had shone, with Chris Smith majestic in the line-out and the scrum holding firm against a supposedly superior pack.

Ian White had his best game to date for Malvern, nipping, harrying and constantly driving his forwards on to greater effort.

Ott popped over another penalty, but slowly Broadstreet came back in the game and their superior fitness started to tell as Malvern legs began to tire towards the end.

Two fairly soft tries allowed them to draw level and they then added a further two to go 10 points clear.

Malvern Director of Rugby David Robins was heartened, despite the defeat.

He said: "To take a much-changed side to the league leaders and frighten them the way we did for 50 minutes speaks volumes for the attitude and spirit at Spring Lane.

"Our disastrous start to the season is now a distant memory and the lads are totally focussing on winning sufficient games to cement our place in this league. There were some great performances out there today.

"We go into the home game against third-placed Newport on Saturday in good heart. They have gone off the boil a little recently and we look to cause an upset on the day."