THE Malvern Angels 1st XV played a hard game in bad weather against Shrewsbury WRFC to end up with a losing scoreline of 10-32.

On the surface that may not seem very good, but when playing against them just before Christmas, the Angels lost by 0-62, this new scoreline shows the development that the team have undergone over the Christmas period.

Shrewsbury, a strong team that has been around for a number of years, could only bring 11 players to Spring Lane, but were bolstered up by some Alcester players to enable a full game to be played.

Malvern opened the game very strongly, immediately pushing and holding Shrewsbury back behind their 22-yard line. The expected try wasn't to be, Shrewsbury managed to break through a gap and Malvern were too slow in retreating to protect the line so opening honours went to Shrewsbury with a try that was converted to put the visitors seven points up.

This seemed to steel Malvern, as the play continued, but Shrewsbury were able to use their experience to make the most of their opportunities to get the ball over the try line. Malvern did get two tries over, both of which they had to work hard for and were well deserved.

The Angels coach, Barry Kirby, was very happy with the result and said: "It was one of those games which we knew would be hard, but to come away with that sort of improvement since our last meeting is really good. It was certainly the best game of rugby that the Angels have played to date. Obviously it would have been better if we had won, but the improvement was such that we really have something to build on and now that most of the team players have been in a couple of matches, we can really progress. All we need now is some more players to make a good training squad and things will really motor forward."

The Angels are always looking to bring new women into the game, their coaching and play is especially focused around new players, but also giving the opportunity for experienced players to develop and enjoy themselves.

Training is on Monday and Friday evenings, so if you are interested, give Amanda a call on 01905 339137, or just turn up for 7pm on training night.