MALVERN RFC U11s travelled to Luctonians RFC last Sunday for what was to prove their best performance to date.

With a squad of 19 players to choose from, it was decided to play three 15-minute sessions. Both sides played to their full potential in a very close, competitive game.

Luctonians started off well having the home advantage, and pinned Malvern into their own half for the majority of the first fifteen minute session. After some heroic tackling by all twelve members of the squad, Malvern could hold on no more and soon found themselves leaving the field two tries and one conversion down.

After several changes during the first rest period, Malvern brought Luctonians sharply back down to earth, with hooker Oscar Kavannagh winning one against the head. Rhys Williams, in his new role as scrum half, picked up the ball from the base of the scrum and flicked the ball to Eric Carlen at fly half. Blasting down the centre, evading three tackles to set up the play, he passed to Nat Wallis who with the assistance of his second row team mates Harry Rayner and Josh Loader drove over the line for Malvern's first try of the game. Nat Wallis then completed the try with a conversion.

From here, Malvern went from strength to strength during this second period. With Luctonians kicking off, replacement hooker Ollie Spiers caught the ball and ran forward at pace, before turning and setting up a driving maul secured by Joseph Purcell, Jack Perkins and Michael Gibson.

Rhys Williams taking the ball on from inside his own 22, moved with speed and grace and ran near the whole length of the pitch before scoring in the opposite corner. Rhys Williams duly converted his try.

Malvern still weren't finished in this sesssion. Their main strength was that they instinctively knew where to look for support when running with the ball. Once again some great handling enabled Nat Wallis to charge through at pace to score his second try of the game. This bringing the second session to an end.

The final session saw Malvern defending their own line putting countless hard hitting tackles in. This was mainly down to assistant coach Kev Purcell offering a Coca Cola to whoever put the best tackle in during the game. This award unreservedly went to Jed Parry.

Malvern, however, could not withstand the pressure, and with a mis-placed clearance kick, Luctonians gathered the ball and were able to drive over in the corner and the game ended fair and square at 19-all.

Malvern coach Andy Crompton said afterwards that he could not fault Malvern's effort especially during the second session.