MALVERN endured bad luck with injuries as they fell 51-7 at Bridgnorth in the RFU Midlands Intermediate Cup first round.

The Midlands Two West (South) side effectively lost a quarter of their team before half-time and found it difficult to compete.

Malvern took the game to their hosts in the first 20 minutes with running rugby.

But then playmaker Ollie Rayner left the field with a knee injury. Ben King moved to fly-half and the back-line’s balance was disrupted.

Bridgnorth came into the match through their huge pack and punched through to score their first try.

Despite a promising George Roberts break, the home pack kept the game tight and led 29-0 by the break.

By this time, Malvern lock Dave Smith had a broken finger, Ben Essenhigh a leg injury and Connor Giggle was playing on with what transpired to be a broken arm.

It looked as though the Spring Lane side might concede over 70 points but they came out for the second-half with all guns blazing.

They forced three turn-overs as Craig Freeman and George Withers carried well, while Sam Parsons put in a high tackle count.

A penalty to touch resulted in a rolling maul and the visitors’ James Southall went round the blind side to score under the posts. King converted. However, as Malvern tired, Bridgnorth scored a couple more tries.

Malvern director of rugby Dave Irish said: “Bridgnorth are top of the equivalent league in the north of our region and on this performance are going to get promotion.

“They have an enormous pack, which features several players who have played at a higher level, so there is no disgrace in losing to them.

“But, given our showing in the first 20 minutes and much of the second-half, it was injuries to key players that lost the game for us and the scoreline didn’t reflect the true nature of the match.

“I’m proud of the way our lads responded and we now have to re-jig the side for the visit of table-topping Banbury on Saturday.”

Giggle will be out for around six weeks, while Essenhigh and Parsons have returned to university.