THE Malvern U16 Pirates maintained their winning run on a bitterly cold morning against a Bromsgrove side, who were desperate make good the reversal they suffered at the hands of the Spring Lane side earlier in the season.

BROMSGROVE U16S 15pts, MALVERN U16S Pirates 22pts

Bromsgrove have been the Pirates nemesis for a number of years and taking on and beating the Boars at fortress Finstall in front of a baying crowd of home supporters seemed a very daunting task for the Malvern side.

Right from the off, the visitors were under no illusion that Bromsgrove were out to make an impression and when Malvern were ruled offside at a ruck, with barely 90 seconds on the clock, a penalty goal from Tom Hughes put Bromsgrove 3-0 in front.

Malvern responded well at the restart and when the home side tried to spin the ball wide, the Pirates defence was always there to check the Bromsgrove backs.

Tom Longley's kicking from hand countered Bromsgrove's field position tactics and after some scrappy play in mid-field, the breakthrough Malvern had been waiting for arrived. From a scrum inside the Bromsgrove 10, the home side fly-half was 'sacked' by Jack Knowles and Will Bowen and the loose ball was hacked up-field. Phil Shore scooped-up the ball and made a half-break into the Bromsgrove 22 before off-loading to David Wood, for the big Malvern flanker to score between the uprights. Sam McCoy's conversion pushed Malvern ahead by 7-3 and moments later, a 30-metre penalty from McCoy extended the lead to 10-3.

Against the run of play, Bromsgrove headed deep into the Malvern half and won a penalty. The outcome was predictable; a line-out, a catch-and-drive and a try for Carl Hackett, but the conversion from Hughes was missed and Malvern held on to their fragile 10-8 lead up to the half-time break.

At the start of the second period, Bromsgrove took the game to Malvern, forcing some frantic defence which culminated in a series of penalties, the last of which was popped into the corner for a five-metre lineout. Stefan Milosaljovich managed to disrupt the Bromsgrove throw, but the referee ruled a knock-on to the home side and from the scrum, Bromsgrove's No 8 Matt Edgar burrowed over for the try and the conversion from Tom Hughes put the Boars five points in front.

A period of Bromsgrove domination followed, with some outstanding defence keeping the home side at bay, but in doing so, Malvern lost the services of Tom Kay and Andy Knott. Nevertheless, up-stepped Sam McCoy and two stunning breaks from the full-back put Malvern in a good field position. Malvern were then awarded a penalty ten metres from the Bromsgrove line and No 8 Michael Chandler took the direct route for the score, leaving the home side defence in tatters. McCoy's conversion put Malvern back into a two-point lead.

Malvern put the moves together and slowly the tide began to turn in the Pirates favour. The Malvern pack was unyielding in the ruck and maul and Longley, Shore and Brierly pressurised the Bromsgrove mid-field into mistake after mistake, leaving the home side with no option but to kick the ball away. The Malvern back three of Bert Davies, Dia Morgans and McCoy had been on-song all through the match and when they launched their counter-attack, good handling and running lines gave man-of-the match McCoy the space out-wide to score the winning try.

Skipper Will Bowen acknowledged after the match that the win had been the result of a true team performance. He said: "Our track record at Bromsgrove has not been one to be proud of, but today's performance although not prettiest, was by far our best team performance this season."