AGAIN forced to make wholesale changes, Malvern visited the banks of the Avon to meet a Newbold side that featured some lively backs.

NEWBOLD 30PTS, MALVERN 19PTS

Malvern missed the presence of Chris Smith at the line-out and the back-row had trouble halting their opposite numbers round the fringes in the first-half.

The home side opened the scoring after 12 minutes with a penalty, after their backs had run out of defence. Three minutes later, with Malvern on the attack, Steve Ott equalised with a fine kick. The move to full-back from stand-off obviously suited him as, with the pressure off, he returned to devastating kicking form on the day.

As Malvern continued to press, Ott landed another effort to take the lead, but the Newbold pack started to give Malvern some trouble in the tight, feeding their backs who in turned stretched Malvern's defensive cover.

Veteran centre Paul Bale, the Newbold skipper, cut through for a try after 25 minutes, then on the half-hour poor cover-tackling let in another try, to be followed by a third just before the break.

Looking down the barrel of another heavy score on the debit side, veteran campaigner Vince Hill was brought on to help tighten things up at the front. His steely determination saw an uplift in work-rate from the pack and they started to put Newbold under pressure and suddenly cracks started appearing as they strove to contain Malvern's momentum.

A fine controlled drive opened up gaps and Ott joined the line to run in for a try and conversion. The pack continued to rumble on and forced a 55th minute penalty which Ott coolly popped over from a mere 45 metres out. He then put Malvern a point behind with 13 minutes left with another three-pointer. His most ambitious attempt, from the halfway line, was a brave effort to snatch the lead, but such has been Malvern's luck lately that it bounced off the crossbar and back into play.

Newbold, shaken by Malvern's fightback, revved up their game and, having won yet another Malvern line-out, moved the ball out to their speedy backs, a scything angled run being rewarded with a try as tackles again failed to connect.

A final penalty in the dying stages of the game consigned Malvern to the bottom of the league table - a position they have not been in for many years.

Although disappointed with the lapses in defensive play and around the fringes, director of rugby David Robins took comfort from some individual performances.

He said: "Steve Ott showed the sort of form he was hitting at the end of last season. The extra space he gains at ful- back, and less pressure than when he was out of position at stand-off, meant his kicking form improved to the extent that he bagged all our points today. Some of the youngsters are showing signs of getting used to the pace of the game, but we need to work hard on our defence - normally one of our strongest areas.

"We also suffered up front, with more enforced changes, so we still aren't finding our rhythm. Julien Davies and Ryan Martin looked to be clicking at half-back in the second period and we look for Ben Sidoli to receive more ball on the wing to show his pace in the future.

"We now host Stafford in what is a crucial home game tomorrow (Saturday)."