Malvern miss key players in Earlsdon defeat

Earlsdon won the first scrum and the ball was fed for the speedy winger to open the scoring.

Sensing Malvern were going to suffer at the set-piece, the Coventry visitors utilised their scrummaging advantage to the full.

Several spirited runs by home wingers Tom Hale and George Roberts saw the latter only stopped by a high tackle.

When Malvern won good ball and spread it wide, they looked threatening and equalised when skipper Luke Milton joined the line and set Hale off to score.

But the restart kick was carelessly knocked on and Earlsdon duly won the scrum, driving over to retake the lead.

In an exciting match in front of a large crowd, Malvern repeatedly attacked and Hale made two penetrating runs.

Two penalties took them closer to the line but strong defence saw Earlsdon turn over the ball and take advantage of poor tackling to score.

Malvern hit back when Richard Fleming broke, Milton supported and Charles Rambridge, back after over a year out, drove over for the try.

Ben King’s conversion narrowed the gap to five points before a long delay after a serious injury to the influential Earlsdon stand-off.

King slotted a penalty over from around 38 metres but Earlsdon raised their game and were only denied by a desperate try-saving tackle.

They then played it tight, creating an overlap to score.

From the restart, Malvern were caught napping for an easy try.

A bad 15 minutes produced a further Earlsdon try but Malvern hit back when King punctured a good defence.

Director of rugby David Irish said: “You can’t lose six regular players and compete on equal terms with such a well-drilled opponent.

“The lads that came in and put their hearts into their shift but on the day it wasn’t quite enough as we struggled to contain their scrum.

“We suffered in terms of back-row play also although our line-out was generally sound thanks to the efforts of Dave Smith, while Will Gough tried his hardest in the unfamiliar second-row slot.”