DIRECTOR of rugby Dave Irish believes Malvern RFC first XV have the perfect opportunity to return to winning ways tomorrow.

Irish’s men will be aiming for a seventh league triumph from nine matches when they face eighth-placed Nuneaton Old Edwardians at Spring Lane (2.15pm).

Richard Hobbs and Adam Green are expected to return to the fold after missing last Saturday’s 44-10 defeat at high-flying Newbold-on-Avon in Midlands Two West (South).

Grant Fraser is also poised to come back into the starting line-up for fourth-placed Malvern but back-row Rory Jones will be missing for the match.

Jones suffered concussion in the second-half of last weekend’s reverse and is not fit.

“From the score-line it looks like we were comprehensively beaten by Newbold,” said Irish.

“Newbold were probably good value for their win but I think the final score flattered them a lot.

“Newbold, just like Malvern, have been in the higher league on a number of occasions and are a useful team.

“But there’s no better remedy for us than to put things right at Spring Lane this weekend.

“It’s a perfect opportunity for us to get back to winning ways.

“We won’t be taking Nuneaton lightly and we have been working hard.

“We have been on an excellent run and, although last weekend’s defeat was a dent to the players’ pride, their confidence remains high.

“We have five wins in a row and I think the players will learn from the match at Newbold and know where things got away from us."

He added: “Nuneaton have had some unusual results — they have run some of the top teams very close and then lost to Leamington, who we put 50 points on.”

Irish said Malvern’s players and officials are looking forward to the return of Jones next month.

“Thankfully, Rory’s injury turned out to be just concussion — and not a neck injury as first feared — so it was good news,” Irish said.

“Rory is a very good ball carrier and he was taking the ball into contact when the accident happened.

“We had a 20-minute stoppage in play as we waited for an ambulance to arrive.”

The Malvern director of rugby continued: “We restarted the match on a new pitch.

“With the players worried about Rory’s injury, Newbold scored straight from the restart.”