MALVERN RFC Contact: Peter Woods 07971 377143 petewoods46@googlemail.com 18 February 2013 THREADBARE MALVERN GO DOWN FIGHTING AT RESURGENT RAMS Redingensian Rams 52 Malvern 23 Malvern’s stuttering season continued on Saturday at Reading when three more injuries and several non-availabilities saw them struggle to field a full side. With the Rams having found some of their last season’s form recently, it was always going to be a major challenge for the Malvern side to compete, but they did for 35 minutes courtesy of the boot of Tom Redfern, whose 3 penalties kept them in contention at 12-9 until just before half time. However, the ten minutes either side of the break saw the Rams increase teir score with two tries, the second of which was directly caused by Malvern’s failure to gather the ball at the restart, allowing the Rams’ stand-off to stroll in almost unopposed. As Malvern struggled at the set-piece, the Rams punished them by not pushing at the scrum, thus making it appear that Malvern were shoving early, and the resultant penalties were turned into tries. However, Malvern never gave up, and Nick miller, playing at flanker instead of his usual position in the centre, broke through to set up Ryan Watkins for a superb try, converted by Redfern. Malvern were going through a purple patch of dominance when running the ball and Miller capped his earlier assist with a fine try of his own, which Redfern again converted to bring the score back to a more respectable 38-23. Rams managed to raise their game again and a deft chip kick over the Malvern defence saw stand-off Swadling on hand to score and convert. The final try of the day had a touch of the bizarre about it as a Rams player ran past the referee to go into the ruck from the side. However, the official somehow didn’t see this and allowed play to continue for a final Rams’ score. Malvern can’t complain about the overall result, although perhaps the score flattered the Rams somewhat. With a week off from league action it is to be hoped that many of the injured players get back to full fitness before the next two crunch matches against Amersham and Chiltern at home, and then Avonmouth OBs away. With Avonmouth only 1 point ahead of Malvern, it’s imperative that Malvern win to have any chance of getting out of the relegation zone, especially as the Bristolians have an easier run-in than Malvern. Coach Nick Tisdale, who played the full 80 minutes on Saturday, is under no illusions about the task ahead of his team, but is still confident that they can respond well to the challenge ahead of them. It’s to be hoped that the Malvern crowd get behind their side in numbers both at home and away – the players all recognise what a difference a supportive crowd can make.