MALVERN U17 Pirates put in a workman-like performance last Sunday to overcome a spirited Hereford side at Spring Lane.

MALVERN U17 Pirates 24pts, HEREFORD U17s 0

Hereford started well and for the opening minutes of the match, the Pirates were forced to defend within 10 metres of their own try-line. Tenacious tackling by the home side kept the visitors at bay and a Hereford mis-guided penalty kick allowed Pirates to clear their lines and forced play into the visitors' half.

With Stefan Milosavljich, the Malvern man-of-the-match, stealing line-out ball almost at will, the Pirates began to test the Hereford defence and with the ball moving quickly along the back-line, winger Richard Pitt was released to score in the corner to put Malvern 5-0 up.

Hereford responded well at the restart, but again Malvern stemmed their ambitions with their disciplined defence, forcing the visitors to make unforced errors. The home side then moved on to the attack and when centre Phil Shore found a gap, the Pirates were 10-0 in front.

Running the bench at the break, Malvern quickly moved up a gear and onto the offensive, with the pace of Sam McCoy, David Morgans, Andy Tighe and Oli Rayner forcing Hereford deep into their own half. The Malvern back-row trio of Chris Reed, David Wood and Will Bowen gained the upper hand and with Hereford working hard in defence, Malvern chose their lines of attack with ease.

Props Ben Clewer and Mike Chandler got into the act making the hard yards for the home side and eventually holes began to show. Phil Shore and Sam McCoy scored a try apiece to push Malvern out-of-reach by 24-0 with McCoy adding the conversions.

With their closest rivals, Birmingham Solihull, losing 10-0 at Ludlow and Droitwich soundly thrashing Walsall 56-0, the Pirates go into their next match against Walsall this Sunday, knowing that a win by 25 points or more will secure a place in the RFU U17 national competition.