MALVERN travelled to North Shropshire to find Whitchuch fielding almost all of the squad that played in the National League last season.

WHITCHURCH 59pts, MALVERN 6pts

With a sharp back line, which lay flat and were immediately up on the Malvern threequarters, the home side never allowed the visitors any space. Malvern went six points up through a drop goal and penalty, but lost full back Rich-ard Fleming after only five minutes with a hamstring injury. Hooker Andy Logan took a crunching tackle and knock to the head early on, which resulted in his leaving the field with suspected concussion. This put the Malvern pack under pressure, prop James Daniell moving to hooker and flanker Simon Reiter throwing in at the line out. Malvern played into Whitchurch's hands with an insistence on trying to spread the ball wide. Their backs, especially the centres, pounced on this tactic and the result was seven tries conceded by a hapless Malvern defence.

Despite this trouncing, Director of Rugby David Robins was not too downcast. "Whitchurch have had three or four years at National League level and that experience showed. We were outplayed up front, but much of this was down to the reshuffle caused by Andy Logan's injury, but the performance back division gives us some immediate concern. Our tackling was non-existent and we gifted them some easy tries. However, to look at the problem in a balanced way, we have been relying on a squad that brought us from the minor leagues six years ago to the top of in-termediate rugby. Those players have done us proud and we will always be grateful for their efforts. We are now competing against some sides that are paying players significant sums in the push for National league rugby. There are four or five sides that will be competing for the top places, whilst we must aim to be the best of the chasing bunch. This year is all about transition, as we bring a new crop of players through. We have the biggest turn out ever at training on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and we will be promoting several players from the second XV as the season progresses."

Robins was disappointed that very few Malvern supporters made the trip to Whitchurch. "Only six Malvern supporters came to support the side on Saturday, yet three years ago, when we were travelling further afield, we could rely on 20 to 30 travelling fans. Given that we are playing at a much higher level, this is a poor turnout. Whitchurch come to us this week, in the North Midlands Cup, and I can guarantee they will bring far more support than we managed."

Turning to the selection posers coach Andy Cushing and Robins face this week, he said, "There were some fine performances, despite the result on Saturday. Simon Reiter is a flanker of real class, whilst James Daniell improves and grows in stature with every game. Most of our problems were in defence, and this is the area where we can ex-pect most changes."

The Cup game at Spring Lane kicks off at 3pm on Saturday.