MALVERN RFC U13s overcame the challenge of Dursley U13s by the narrowest of margins in a thrilling encounter at Spring Lane on Sunday.

MALVERN U13s 7pts, DURSLEY U13s 5pts

The two sides were very well balanced and this led to an excellent exhibition of junior rugby in front of a large crowd.

Dursley were the more mobile of the two teams and their fleet-footed backs took every opportunity to push the ball out-wide to keep the Malvern flank defence on its toes. Malvern on the other hand, opted for a more direct route with their beefy forwards rampaging down the centre before setting their backs loose to cause mayhem in Dursley's half of the pitch.

With play constantly moving from end to end, it was the team with the more disciplined defence that would win at the end of the day and for the first third of the match, neither side had any intention of conceding a score.

However, from a well controlled line-out just outside the Malvern 22, the Dursley centres drew the Malvern defence in-field and with the right flank fully exposed, Dursley took their chance and scored in the corner for 5-0.

The response from Malvern was swift and the restart was turned-over in Malvern's favour and with the ball in the pack, the forwards rumbled up the centre in two pods, drawing the Dursley defence in-field. Ben Shaw called for the ball and the Malvern backs were flying and only a last-gasp tackle from the Dursley full-back pushed winger Phil Smith just into touch.

Malvern stole the resulting line-out and quick service from scrum-half Ben Jones found Jerone Winterton unmarked. The powerful number 8 from Dyson Perrins HS cut through the Dursley defence with ease to level the scores. Phil Smith pushed Malvern ahead with a monster conversion kick from the right touchline.

After the break, play continued to move from end to end but as the defences held strong, neither team could make head-way to build upon their scores. At the final whistle it was Malvern who claimed the win, to keep their 100 per cent home winning record in place.

The Malvern RFC U13 are sponsored by ENVEX Construction Ltd.