HAVING dumped the holders out of the Intermediate Cup the previous week, Malvern’s young bucks carried that form into Midlands One with an impressive 34-0 demolition of Bedford Athletic at Spring Lane.

Malvern, having survived an early onslaught from the visitors, showed strength and aggression in the forwards, pushing the Bedford scrum back from the first set-piece.

They kept the visitors pinned back in their own half, but were guilty of some over-elaboration which allowed Bedford’s defence to put in some good cover work.

Both sides were guilty of basic errors in the first quarter. However, all this changed in the 26th minute as Malvern turned over a Bedford line-out and James Hynes rumbled through to open the scoring with several defenders clinging to him. Full-back Chris Hooper converted and the nerves settled for the home supporters and players.

As the half went on, the Malvern team grew in stature. Line-outs were secured, courtesy of Gareth Taylor and Owen Jones, while flankers James Martin and Steve Strong snuffed out the dangerous Bedford eight and nine connection. Meanwhile, the hosts’ back line were going through their paces.

The second-half saw more of the home side attacking the away 22-metre area.

The bigger Bedford pack tried to maul the ball, but were held up and Malvern drove hard for the line, conceding a scrum for a knock-on.

Another turn-over saw Martin gather and use his power to drive over in the 55th minute and galvanise the crowd.

His score also opened the floodgates, as three minutes later Hooper joined the line to put Greg Summers away for a score, which the full-back converted.

With Malvern now dominant in all aspects of the game, it was the turn of Richard Fleming, who used his strength and pace to force his way through to score in the 63rd minute.

From the re-start, Malvern gathered, went on another drive to the Bedford line and scrum-half Jamie Gwynne took the ball from the back of the ruck to go over.

A 10-minute spell had yielded killer punches, but the celebrations weren’t yet over.

Even the loss of Martin to a yellow card made no difference and Fleming rounded off the day five minutes from the end as he once again broke Bedford’s defensive line to wrap up proceedings.