MALVERN Rugby Club put their Midlands Two West (South) three-match winning run on the line at home to title-chasing Newbold-on-Avon tomorrow (2.15pm).

The Spring Lane side play hosts for the second consecutive weekend after a 41-8 win over eighth-placed Spartans moved them above Pinley to fourth in the table.

Malvern showed dogged determination before easing away in the final quarter of the match to back up wins over Droitwich (39-12) and Leamington (13-0).

But they will have a different test against Newbold, who have suffered just one defeat in 17 fixtures and are joint top on 76 points with Old Laurentians.

Malvern will be keen to erase the memory of a 44-10 defeat at Newbold last November when the visitors had the better of the first-half, only to lose the injured Rory Jones in a long delay, before the Warwickshire side bossed the last 20 minutes.

Director of rugby Dave Irish was delighted with the way Malvern performed last weekend.

He said: “Spartans gave us a tough examination and we passed through dogged determination.

“The performance of our backs, engineered by some inspired play from man-of-the-match Laurie Essenhigh and James Southall, was exemplary, but I also want to highlight our often unsung forwards.

“We won good line-out ball courtesy of Dave Smith and Jack Longley, Dave White and Ben Redler slotted in well in their first games and Grant Fraser and James Redfearn did a difficult job well.

“Craig Freeman and George Withers both impressed with their running and ball carrying, while it was good to see Connor Giggle back in the first team after recovering from a broken arm.

“The fact we had a couple of first-team regulars missing didn’t seem to affect us and leaves me with a bit of a selection headache for the Newbold game.”

Meanwhile, relegation continues to loom for second-from-bottom Upton, who crashed 41-14 at Pershore in a Midlands Three West (South) Worcestershire derby.

They host fellow strugglers Shipston-on-Stour tomorrow (2.15pm) in what is shaping up to be a must-win clash for both sides.

In-form Ledbury lost 27-26 at home to table-toppers Dunlop and visit Harbury tomorrow.

Bromyard slumped 80-0 at leaders Cleobury Mortimer in Midlands Four West (North) and host Herefordshire rivals Greyhound tomorrow (2.15pm).