MALVERN’S director of rugby Dave Irish will be pitting his wits against his former captain in tomorrow’s RFU Midlands Intermediate Cup first-round clash (3pm).

Irish takes his troops to face in-form Shropshire outfit Bridgnorth, who have won their last seven matches, at the Edgar Davies Ground.

Malvern will be coming up against Bridgnorth line-out technician, Darren Brick, who was the captain during Irish’s two-season spell as the head coach at Ludlow.

It promises to be a stern test for Irish’s men, who lost 26-12 at home to Bridgnorth in a pre-season match in August.

Malvern will be keen to put in a strong display after a pedestrian showing in a 32-15 defeat last weekend at Pinley in Midlands Two West (South).

Irish said: “It was a perfect storm last weekend because we had a lot of changes, with players missing for a variety of reasons, and we came up against a good Pinley side who know how to win on their home patch.

“It was a bit of a reality check for us after a good start to the season and I think our young side found things very difficult and were a bit intimidated.

“We will have our captain Luke Milton back this weekend and we will go to Bridgnorth full of confidence.”

Malvern suffered the early disappointment of losing Jordan Nwachukwu with a dislocated shoulder at Pinley and trailed 17-3 at the interval.

But the Spring Lane outfit rallied with late tries from James Southall and Richard Fleming.

Bridgnorth are in excellent form, topping Midlands Two West (North) after winning their three opening league matches.

They secured a thumping 37-0 win over Kidderminster Carolians last weekend.

Bridgnorth have been strong in both attack and defence this term, racking up a total of 334 points and conceding only 19 in return.

Irish added: “When we played Bridgnorth in pre-season I think both teams had a lot of players missing, so it wasn’t a true indication of things. I have a lot of connections with Bridgnorth and I am looking forward to renewing my acquaintances with Darren, who knows the type of game I like to play.

“I am sure he will have been speaking about it to the coaches at Bridgnorth.

“There is also another strong connection because Bridgnorth’s coach Bryan Smallman took over from me when I left as the coach at Kidderminster.”