WITH Malvern's first XV having played the previous day against Market Bosworth for a place in Midlands One, their seconds, who have enjoyed an excellent season under captain Vince Hill, made up the bulk of the squad to face Luctonians in the semi-final of the North Midlands Cup last Sunday.

MALVERN 12pts, LUCTONIANS 37pts

On a warm afternoon the large watching crowd enjoyed a thrilling match in which the expected gulf between the sides failed to materialise as the home side put in a performance of high quality, with ultimately only the pace out wide offered by the Midlands One outfit proving Malvern's undoing.

Straight from the off, the visitors were forced to give ground as their hosts' pack, dynamic at the ruck and secure in the set piece, provided the platform to allow half-backs Julien Davis and Richard Fleming to probe for openings.

Under pressure in their 22, the visitors pounced on a loose ball before feeding wing Mark Panniers. His pace took him 80 metres to score in the corner.

Having made the breakthrough, the Kingslanders stepped up their pace and exerted pressure of their own. Solid defence in their 22 saw Malvern achieve the turnover, but Davis' clearing kick was collected by Panniers who again raced clear to give fly-half Jeremy Wheadon a simple conversion.

Malvern took the game to Lucs with driving runs from centre George Roberts and full-back Ryan Milne making ground and sucking in the defence. Wing Dave Beech took the ball on, before unloading out of the tackle to Fleming, who saw the line beckoning. A last-ditch tackle saved the visitors, who again counter-attacked, this time using the speed of wing Andy Garrod, who sprinted away to stretch the lead to 17 points.

Again, the Spring Lane outfit found the pace. Driving into Luctonians' territory, they finally got their reward as Roberts broke through to open the home side's account. Following good work by Davis and Beech as the break arrived, Malvern's tight five held their own and their back row of Stuart Clark, Ollie Banwell and man-of-the-match Owain Wynne worked well as a unit.

Luctonians struggled to dominated until once again Garrod received out wide and showed his class with a fine individual try converted by Wheadon.

Spurred on by skipper Vince Hill, the hosts continued to take the battle to Lucs and when, under pressure, Wheadon attempted a speculative long pass, Malvern centre Ben Ash intercepted and outpaced the defence to score under the posts. Replacement fly-half Adam Dixon added the extras.

As the game drew to a close Wheadon struck long distance penalties to stretch out the visitors' lead, before an excellent counter-attack saw Panniers cut through the defence to release Looms, who touched down for a seven-pointer to secure the victory.

Malvern's director of rugby David Robins wished Luctonians well in their forthcoming final against Whitchurch.

Paying tribute to his players, he said: "I am hugely impressed with the spirit and attitude of all involved in today's match. In the past, some clubs have failed to show proper respect to this competition but our players can be certain that today they have done themselves and their club proud."