THIS was a tightly fought North Midlands first round cup tie and Malvern just managed to get the better of a strong and determined Kidderminster side.

MALVERN U15s 28pts, KIDDERMINSTER

CAROLIANS U15s 12pts

Kidderminster put Malvern under considerable pressure, keeping them pinned back in their own half. But midway through the first half Malvern broke free to score, when from a scrum the ball was quickly given to winger Jonathan White. The elusive winger cut back into midfield and then weaved his way past at least five Kidderminster players to score between the posts. Craig Doyle calmly converted. The score remained for the rest of the half despite both teams initiating some promising phases of play.

In the second half the Malvern backs started to pass the ball out to the wing and slowly, the balance of the game turned Malvern's way. Strong running from Sam Lannie, Andrew Tighe and Matt Williams and bone-crunching tackles from Chris Griffiths, and confident counter-attacks from full-back Ollie Rayner stood out during an eventful half. Dan Jeynes then claimed Malvern's second try with a brilliant run along the touchline. Again well converted by Craig making it 14-0.

But Kidderminster were far from finished and they came back with a hard worked try. The conversion was charged down making the score 14-5.

Less than five minutes after Kidderminster's try Malvern cancelled it out with a try for centre Andy Tighe, followed by a second for Dan Jeynes with a run from the half way to score between the posts. Craig Doyle kept his 100 per cent kicking record by securing the conversions giving Malvern a 28-5 lead. But Kidderminster refused to throw in the towel and in the last play of the match the visitors scored, with their no.8 piling over for a consolation converted try.

Malvern now have a round two match in early December.