It's do or die for Malvern (From Ledbury Reporter)

It's do or die for Malvern

2:10pm Monday 11th March 2013 in Sport

MALVERN Rugby Club scored 33 with five tries against Amersham and Chiltern last Saturday but conceded a stunning 73 in reply.

A much-improved Amersham side were too good for Malvern, being half-a-yard quicker in thought and deed.

Following a promising Malvern start, the Buckinghamshire visitors turned over the ball and ran quickly from defence. After a catchand- drive from the line-out, their lock opened the scoring.

Missed Malvern tackles allowed Amersham to demonstrate counter-attacking at speed with four more tries in the first 30 minutes earning a bonus point.

The hosts lost Dave Smith with an arm injury to be replaced by head coach Nick Tisdale and they put together good phases capped by a fine score from Luke Milton.

Milton then broke well and passed inside to TJ Harris who burst through to bring the score back to 31-12 with Tom Redfern’s conversion.

But the start of the second period saw Amersham reassert their superiority with two more tries.

Aimless kicking played into the visitors’ hands, allowing them to constantly run the ball back at pace.

However, with ball in hand, Malvern looked more confident and they hit back with Redfern’s quick tap penalty putting Ryan Watkins in for a converted score. Amersham responded with a similar move as their centre burst through almost unopposed.

Malvern never gave up and Nick Miller scored a try for the bonus point with Redfern converting. Amersham replied with another soft try before Miller again powered over to set up a Redfern conversion.

In the dying minutes with Malvern tiring, the worthy winners rounded off a fine display with two more tries although the second appeared to involve a forward pass.

• Alan Evans has been appointed acting chairman until Malvern’s annual meeting.