Robins sees red as Malvern fall at home

As the game progressed, the atmosphere on the pitch - like the weather - became more heated.

Robins, a former referee, was shown the red card after the whistle for dissent but the decision was later rescinded.

He fumed: "It was the most abysmal refereeing performance I have seen in years.

"The game was hard-fought but not especially dirty but it did call for firm control, which wasn't evident.

"The result flattered Solihull as we had held them up front and shaded them in the set-pieces. Our mistake was to try and out-maul them instead of playing a wider game and running them around in the heat.

"It wasn't the best way to finish our league campaign, but we will try and make amends in our cup semi-final against Whitchurch on Saturday, who we believe play a similar game to Solihull and ply their trade in the Northern Division.

"It would be good to give our supporters a day out for the North Midlands Cup final."

The first-half saw a drop goal from the stand-off put Solihull ahead on 16 minutes. The packs were even with Malvern having the edge in the set-pieces but they did not spread the ball wide enough.

Solihull's blind-side flanker was sin-binned for a deliberate shoulder charge and Malvern's Shaun Lancett grabbed his 20th league try of the season after a catch-and-drive.

But the lead was short-lived as Solihull kicked a drop goal and then scored a try following a yellow card for Malvern's Matt Richardson.

With the visitors 11-5 ahead at the interval, George Roberts and the Solihull hooker were sin-binned.

Solihull's winger sped in to widen the lead before the referee sent off both stand-offs for a minor skirmish.

Malvern lost shape, conceding two more tries, before playing a simple move along the line for Roberts to score.

However, the referee added Lancett to his collection of red cards for dissent and Solihull wrapped the match up with another break-away try.