NEWPORT (SALOP) 14, MALVERN RFC 6.

WITH eight regulars missing through illness or injury, Malvern travelled to highly-placed Newport as definite underdogs for the first league fixture of 2009.

When the home side scored after only two minutes following a kick-off that found touch, the Spring Lane side were up against it, but weathered the storm of attacks put in by the strong-running home backs. Some fine defensive work and some good clearance kicking by Nicolas Gyucha kept the Shropshire side at bay.

After a couple of early yellow cards from the referee, the game settled down with both sides trying to run the ball.

A long range penalty effort by Gyucha fell just short, but another on the half-hour found its mark to pull back three points.

Newport went further ahead, courtesy of an unspotted forward pass after a quick tapped penalty caught Malvern napping for a 14-3 half-time lead.

A rallying call from stand-in skipper Phil Rawle saw Malvern come out in positive mood for the second period. With prop James Thomas giving his opposite number a torrid time, Chris Smith and Gareth Taylor taking control in the line-out and scrum-half Dave Hadkiss driving on his pack, Malvern looked more the side from the top end of the table.

Tom Beechey put in a devastating run to put Malvern deep inside the home 22-metre area and Gyucha was unlucky to see two penalty attempts hit the post and drop on the wrong side.

Perhaps, with Newport down to seven in the pack at that stage, the scrum would have been a better option, but Malvern stuck to the task in hand.

Another penalty to Malvern was put over by Gyucha as the Malvern onslaught continued. Newport were showing signs of disarray as Malvern commanded the set pieces, and when they did have possession the back row of Simon Daws, Richard Hobbs and Rawle harried them into making errors. Mark Chivers, having come on for injured loose head Tom Drew, belied his lack of recent match time as he, Luke Greenwood and Thomas controlled the front of the scrummage, whilst Cameron Pimlow and Vaughan Thomas put in solid performances in the middle of the park.

Jamie Gwynne, pressed into service as emergency full-back, also acquitted himself well as the young Malvern side quietened the large home support. Greg Summers put in a scything run and linked up to put Beechey in.

But the referee ruled the final scoring pass to be forward, a harsh decision considering his previous error.

Newport managed to hold out until the final whistle, but the Malvern side were buoyed by a spirited performance.