MALVERN entertained fellow Midlands Two West strugglers Stoke and put on a display of power rugby that left the men from the Potteries gasping for breath by the end.

MALVERN 25PTS, STOKE 0

After a fairly scrappy first quarter, Malvern started to dominate, the front five outgunning their opposite numbers to such an extent that two opposing props had to retire from the field of play.

This meant uncontested scrums for a full hour of the game, but before that Malvern had camped out in the Stoke half, sucking in the defence and then passing wide for winger George Roberts to flip a pass back inside to full-back Ben Lamb to open the home side's account.

Malvern's technical indiscipline at the breakdown continued to give cause for concern as the penalty count again mounted, but fortunately Stoke were unable to make any headway.

With the lack of set scrum contests, Malvern had to revert to a more expansive game, using Gareth Taylor's ball-carrying skill and then bringing Adam Dixon's playmaking skills into effect. The young stand-off had been targeted as a possible weak link by the big Stoke back-row, but he proved that size isn't everything as he twice knocked over their big Samoan number eight.

Lamb made it 10-0 in the 35th minute to give Malvern a cushion at half-time.

The second period continued in the same vein. Chris Smith and Vince Hill dominated the line-out and set up repeated forward drives. From one such ploy, Malvern forced a penalty in the 46th minute, Steve Ott collecting the three points.

Nine minutes later, outside centre Chris Ridgers showed an astonishing turn of pace as he intercepted a Stoke pass and zoomed in from 70 metres, breaking two tackles on the way, for a fine score under the posts, gifting Ott the extra brace.

It was Malvern all the way from then and the forwards were determined not to let the backs have it all their own way. Inside the last five minutes, a line-out peel saw Gareth Taylor set up the drive and the ball was popped-up to seasoned lock Vince Hill, who charged over for his first score in six years.

Tomorrow (Saturday), Malvern continue their league campaign with a trip to fourth-placed Hinckley (2.15pm).

Malvern have one more league game before the Christmas and new year break, when they visit Barkers Butts next Saturday (December 17).