MALVERN travelled to Leamington eager to continue their good form from pre-season and the North Midlands Shield game and came away with a 20-14 win in Midlands Two West (South).

They came up against an Old Leamingtonians team who tested the visiting defence from the first whistle but Malvern held firm and started to probe the home side with some slick moves.

Malvern proved to be the better running side and Connor Giggle sped in for the opening score.

The sharp Spring Lane backs kept the pressure on the Warwickshire side, but conceded a penalty. Craig Freeman was sin-binned and OLs won a scrum and shipped the ball out quickly to score under the posts and convert to take the lead.

Although Malvern had most of the positive play, they conceded too many penalties to turn round 7-5 down at the interval against the run of play.

The second-half saw a more disciplined Malvern performance. A burst from flanker Stuart Clarke resulted in a Malvern penalty which Ollie Rayner despatched to retake the lead for Malvern.

The Malvern pack had OLs under the cosh and put in an immense drive over the goal-line, Sam Parsons just beating Clarke to the touch-down and Rayner collecting the extra two points to put Malvern 15-7 ahead.

The Bericote Road men upped their game and forced Malvern to defend. They put in an immense drive to score from a five-metre scrum and convert to pull back the deficit to a single point.

With their tails up, they forced a turnover and penalty but their kicker was unable to take advantage.

Malvern then moved their game up a notch and drove to the home 22-metre area, Laurie Essenhigh picking up and scampering through to score his maiden try and put Malvern six points clear.

Malvern then closed the game down for a good first league away win.

They played with a determination which had perhaps been missing last season and is a tribute to both the players and the coaching staff.

Malvern director of rugby Dave Irish said: “The lads thoroughly deserved to take the points against a good side. I was pleased with our scrummaging and the backs showed pace and threat throughout the game.”