MALVERN crashed 54-10 at high-flying Spartans in Midlands Two West (South).

A year ago, Malvern travelled to Sutton Coldfield and took the scalp of a Spartans side, who had not lost at home for almost two years.

There was to be no repeat this year as the high-riding hosts outplayed a game Malvern team on a blustery day.

From kick-off, Spartans took the ball to the Malvern line and gained a penalty to put them three points up.

They continued to put pressure on a side who were missing crucial tackles and their powerful pack put in driving mauls, winning a penalty for bringing it down.

Sensing they had more power, Spartans opted for a five-metre scrum and gained a penalty try, which was duly converted.

Malvern tried to make inroads with good movement and crossed the Spartans’ line only to be held up.

Their opponents responded by outmuscling Malvern in the scrum and putting in good phases, spreading the ball wide for their incisive winger to score in the corner.

The visitors again responded well with good interplay and Richard Fleming made inroads after Dave Smith won line-out ball.

As they continued to run the ball, Luke Milton linked up with Fleming and they fed Laurie Essenhigh for a Malvern try.

After the break, Spartans played with the slope in their favour and used their superior scrummaging to good effect.

It gave them plenty of possession and a hole opened up in the middle of the Malvern defence to let them in for another score.

The Malvern defence proved uncharacteristically porous as Spartans turned the screw and used their nippy backs to good effect for another try.

Malvern compounded their errors by losing the ball unnecessarily and suffered another blow when Stuart Clark was sin-binned after retaliating to a blow to the head, which the referee did not see.

The resultant penalty gave Spartans a 32-5 lead but still Malvern did not give up and put in a good stint of phases, which ended with Ben King going over to score for the Spring Lane side.

Spartans replied by putting a penalty deep into Malvern territory for a five-metre line-out and the inevitable catch and drive led to another try.

They added to their total with a kick and chase won by their Scottish under 20s winger.

Malvern’s afternoon was summed up as they put in an attack only to have a pass intercepted before a final try and conversion ended an unsatisfactory day at Coppice Lane.