MALVERN suffered a 23-10 loss to local rivals Bromsgrove at Finstall Park in National Three Midlands.

A first-minute scrum was taken against the head as Malvern powered upfield and forced a narrowly-missed penalty.

The Spring Lane side continued to press, but it was the hosts who scored first. A loose clearance was fielded and the home backs cut through to hand scrum-half Newman a try, converted by Copson.

Tom Hale made a break after a Bromsgrove kick was fielded and number eight James Martin powered through the middle to dive over and set up an Adam Dixon conversion.

Bromsgrove soon went ahead with a Copson penalty against Malvern for joining the ruck from the side.

Malvern continued to dominate in the forwards until a few minutes before the break when another scrum was taken against the head. The visitors won a penalty at the next breakdown for Dixon to again equalise.

Bromsgrove then won a scrum and made an outside break to take the lead once more through outside-centre Wilson.

Malvern lost prop John Clarke to a neck injury and the loss of several stones in weight meant that things were a bit more even in the forwards’ contest.

Copson’s 47th-minute penalty stretched the lead to eight points as the home side slowly gained the advantage.

The game was finally sealed when another Malvern clearance failed to find touch, the ball was run across field and flanker MacGregor was on hand to score the final try.

Despite a frenzied last 10 minutes of Malvern pressure, the home defence held out.