MALVERN needed a win to cement their fourth place in Midlands Two West (South) and did so in emphatic style by crushing Old Leamingtonians 74-12 at Spring Lane.

The Warwickshire side were already condemned to relegation but played their part in an entertaining game. However, it was the home side who dictated the pace and outcome of the match from the start.

George Withers stole the ball at the first scrum and Malvern drove to the opposition 22. From the resulting touch the Malvern pack put in an immense catch and drive move for lock Dave Smith to touch down.

Soon after Malvern again won a scrum against the head and the ball was moved swiftly across the line and skipper Luke Milton was on hand to score and set up Ben King’s conversion.

The scoreboard continued to be a busy place as Malvern won a penalty, opted for a five-metre scrum, and George Roberts was on hand to scythe his way throughto score a fine try, King adding the extra points.

Malvern then lost their way a little and OLs put in a series of attacks and drove to the corner and scored.

This woke Malvern up and they responded immediately when Conor Giggle powered through to score in the corner and secure the bonus point.

They were then awarded a penalty and James Southall took a quick tap-and-go and Rory Jones made light of the opposition’s attempts to halt him, scoring and setting up King’s conversion.

Malvern started the second-half as they had left off before the break, Craig Freeman and Withers putting in some fine carries, but losing James Redfearn to injury.

Malvern dictated play and ran the ball around, retaining possession until Southall saw a gap and nipped through to score and set up another conversion for King.

As Malvern continued to keep the ball in hand, it was King’s turn to join the try-scorer’s list as the OLs line was stretched to breaking point.

With the Malvern scrum now totally dominant at the set-piece, the forwards won the ball and went through several phases of pick and drive moves. The ball was shifted out to Giggle once more for him to use his pace and go over.

From the restart, Malvern defended patiently until they seized on a loose ball. Milton fed it to Roberts and the winger showed he had lost none of his pace as he sped in to score and set up King’s conversion.

As the match entered the final stages, a quick Malvern tap penalty saw Giggle feed the ball back to Southall for another score and then Withers broke downfield and put Adam Green over for a rare try.

OLs scored a second try but there was still time for Malvern to finish with a flourish with a Giggle try, converted by King.