MALVERN having received a bye in the Intermediate Cup, travelled to Leckhampton to play a friendly against Old Patesians.

OLD PATESIANS 7pts, MALVERN 24pts

The Spring Lane side took the opportunity to 'mix and match' the first and second XVs, distributing the regular senior players between the two so that some of the emerging players could obtain exposure.

On a still, humid day under the shadow of the Cotswolds, Malvern faced a early onslaught form a young and keen OP's team, good defensive work echoing the previous week's heroics against Newport.

Having weathered the initial storm, Malvern countered, a telling kick from Dan Sparrey taking them to ten metres from the home line. Taylor and Allies pressurised the OP's defence and Gaubert was held up short. From the resulting scrum the ball was spun out quickly to the pacey Jim Callow, who wove his way over to open the scoring, Longley converting.

From the re-start Malvern kept up the pressure, Duncan Short and Chris Smith putting in some solid work in the second row, with young Dave Hill doing a Neil Back at flanker. From a scrum Andy Longley joined on the narrow side, freeing Callow for his second score. Centre Nick Bruton, showing all of his old pace, was unlucky to suffer severe bruising to his foot whilst setting up an attack, Dave Hill moving into the centre and Paul Hart subbing at wing forward.

A front row foray by Steve Cooper and Darren Handy was just short, the OP's defence doing well to halt the Malvern juggernaut. OP's backs looked sharp on occasion, but a combination of poor passing and a very attentive Malvern defence ensured that they lacked penetration.

Some of their frustration transferred to the home pack with some stray punches being thrown. This resulted in a ten minute sin binning for Gareth Richards, who decided to come to the aid of his colleagues in the pack.

Malvern responded with style, Longley again joining in the fun, with Tim Allies popping up to crown an impressive performance to score. OP's made a foray upfield, a penalty taking them to the Malvern danger zone and their forwards mauled their way over to score just before the break.

Playing up the steep slope in the second half, Malvern faced some early pressure from the home backs, but after again soaking up early attacks they took the game back to OP's. Gaubert, Hart and Taylor carried the ball to the home pack and tied the in, Beech put his opposite number on the rack and Simon Philips was judicious in his play making, receiving good ball from Sparrey to set the backs off on their travels. Longley took the ball at pace and gave his trademark double-shimmy to wrong foot the OP's defence to seal the result.

Malvern coach Rudy Smith was pleased with the result, saying: "It is all too easy to treat friendlies like this as unimportant. However, the team spirit we have in our squad, coupled with the intense competition for places, ensured that the lads gave 100%. With the second string winning at Hereford, we are well tuned up for the away match at Selly Oak this Saturday."