MALVERN snatched defeat from the jaws of victory as Hinckley grabbed a late converted try in this National Three Midlands mid-table clash.

Playing down the slope and with a strong wind, Malvern started brightly with Richard Fleming nearly making it to the line before being bundled into touch.

Sustained early pressure from the Spring Lane outfit saw the ball being moved with some fluidity and flanker Owen Jones joined the line to take the ball on the burst and go through to score in the corner.

With ball in hand, Malvern were looking the stronger of the two sides and increased their tally when a good passage of handling by the forwards saw Simon Daws go through, Robin Franssen’s conversion giving a 12-point lead.

The Swede then went on a run to the home 22, winning a penalty. Quickly taken, the visitors got to the home line before winning a further penalty.

The Swedish international despatched the ball through the uprights as a home second row forward was sin-binned and Malvern were two scores clear. However, Hinckley survived the rest of the half without Malvern being able to get a killer third score.

The Leicestershire outfit turned round with the advantage of the elements in the second period.

The bulkier home scrum had been shading the set pieces, while Malvern’s line-out play wasn’t functioning.

These areas proved to be crucial, together with the propensity to concede penalties awarded by the uncompromising referee.

Four minutes into the half, Hinckley won two penalties and wing Sam Southall ran in an easy converted try.

Injury then saw the departure of Malvern tight-head John Clark-Jones before Hinckley again broke downfield, winning yet another penalty which fly-half Ryan Oakes put over to edge them closer to Malvern’s total.

The visitors were now well and truly on the back foot, living off scraps and a rare foray into home territory by James Southall on the hour gave some respite.

Winning a line-out in a good attacking position, Malvern conspired to lose the ball, allowing Hinckley to once again regain possession.

Further penalties were conceded, one of which was converted to reduce the arrears to two points.

Things went from bad to worse when Chris Griffiths was shown a yellow card five minutes from the end.

Hinckley opted for a scrum and drove over for the winning converted try to leave Malvern regretting their inability to make the most of their first-half advantage.