Malvern 36pts, Barkers Butts 24pts

THE one thing that this fixture always promises is lots of points and the healthy pre-Christmas Spring Lane crowd were not disappointed.

The young Barkers side is always full of running, but it was Malvern who made the first break. From a tapped fourth minute penalty, Gareth Taylor burst through the away defence to open the scoring, with Tukia Muli adding the conversion. Ten minutes later the Meriden-based side pulled back a penalty but again Malvern responded when Dave King chipped a kick ahead and gathered the ball to set Richard Fleming on his way, breaking three tackles to score.

With Malvern totally dominating the scrum and line-out, Barkers were kept on the back foot, but their resilience showed through as they charged down two sloppy Malvern clearance attempts and from the resulting possession prop Greavy's try gave Hamm the conversion to pull back the score to 12-10.

However, Malvern's pack continued to drive the visitors back with a series of strength-sapping mauls, one such sucking in the defence to allow King space to glide through the gap to score, Muli converting three minutes before the end of the half. Just before the break Dave Hill, all action at flanker, turned over the ball and Malvern again went driving forward. Winning a line out 15 metres from the Barkers' line, the catch and drive was put into effect and that man Shaun Lancett was on hand to bag another try, making him the top scoring prop in the Midlands.

After the break Malvern seemed to settle into a comfort zone, trying to showboat a little too much and consequently forcing errors on themselves. Barkers were given a lifeline when a penalty was awarded to Malvern, but some ill-advised advice was given to the referee, who reversed his decision. Barkers spread the ball wide, winger Shaw went over and Hamm converted to put the visitors only one score behind, despite Malvern's dominance.

This wake-up call spurred Malvern on and when their next onslaught ended with a yellow card for the number eight, who persistently pulled the maul down, the resultant drive ended with Lancett adding to his season's tally. With ten minutes left another driving maul allowed Ryan Watkins, making his Malvern debut at scrum-half, to put King away to dance through the defence for his second try, Watkins converting.

Again Malvern took the foot off the pedal and Barkers never-say-die youngsters came back with a quick penalty, flanker Newton going over and Hamm's conversion clocking up the 60th point of the afternoon.

Special mention was made after the match of the solid refereeing, which enabled both sides to play entertaining, open rugby.

David Robins, Malvern's Director of Rugby, was pleased with the win and praised his pack for their superb efforts. However, he was less enamoured of some profligate kicking that enabled Barkers to get back into the game, and also some lapses in concentration, which would have cost dear against more clinical opposition.

Robins said: "However, there were lots of plusses. The pack was immense and it was good to see skipper James Hynes back after a long lay-off and coming back with his great ball carrying skills. Ryan Watkins impressed on his debut, whilst Dave King was back to his best. Dave Hill, still not fully recovered from a chest infection, was a constant menace. The back line wasn't at its best today, but redeemed itself with some good defensive work.

"I had targeted 15 points by Christmas and we are one ahead, so we are doing reasonably well. We return after the holiday with a tough away game at Lichfield on January 6. Having lost to them at home by a single point we have a score to settle and will look to some good training sessions to shake off the cobwebs."