A BELOW-STRENGTH Malvern suffered a 34-0 defeat when they visited Bridgnorth for a North Midlands Shield semi-final clash.

Bridgnorth, the Intermediate Cup finalists who are off to Twickenham next Sunday, played virtually a full strength side, while Malvern were weakened by call-offs due to injury and work commitments.

Nonetheless, the Spring Lane men made sure that the Shropshire side had to fight every inch of the way for their place in the North Midlands Shield final.

The game started with the bigger Bridgnorth side laying siege to the Malvern red zone for long periods, with the occasional foray out of defence by a Malvern side always keen to run the ball.

Joe Wilkes showed his potential with several good carries from number eight, while Piers Morell, a Malvern College student, was a busy and effective flanker.

However, the home side’s predatory nature was shown when they caught a Malvern up and under and countered swiftly, resulting in a score for the left-winger.

They soon doubled their advantage, again from a counter-attack after Malvern were forced into touch.

After a Bridgnorth penalty score, Malvern always looked to be in the game, but Bridgnorth’s defensive play was excellent and they reached half-time with a 17-0 lead.

The second period started well for Malvern as a Bridgnorth flanker was sin-binned for repeatedly going over the top at the ruck. However, despite winning a couple of strikes against the head, Malvern were unable to break down the stubborn Bridgnorth defence.

As play switched to the Malvern half, Bridgnorth scored again and Wilkes was sin-binned. Penalties conceded were converted to scrummages and the powerful home pack finally got a push-over try.

Malvern again ran the ball into the home half and only some desperate defence by Bridgnorth kept them out, but the home side had the final say as a Malvern pass was intercepted and their number eight ran 65 metres to score.

The Bridgnorth coach Dale Smallman was fulsome in his praise of Malvern’s effort.

He said that his team had one of their most stern tests of the season and that it was only the amount of time they spent on defensive training over the season that enabled them to stop Malvern from scoring.