DIRECTOR of rugby Dave Irish insists Malvern must turn Spring Lane into a fortress this season.

Irish’s men have chalked up two successive home wins and will battle for a third tomorrow against lowly Leamington in Midlands Two West (South) (3pm).

Malvern are level on points with second-placed Banbury after last weekend’s 16-8 derby triumph at Droitwich.

“I am very happy with the way things are going – it has been a great start to the season after back-to-back relegations and has given us a platform to build from,” said Irish.

“Leamington will provide a stern test but our confidence should be high and we will be going out on to the field full of expectation.

“We have won two games away from home but if we want to keep in contention at the top of the table we have to win our home matches. It’s difficult to read too much into Leamington’s league position – they are near the bottom but have played a couple of the top sides.

“We have probably used 25 or 26 players already and the fact we have won four league games from five matches shows the depth of our squad.”

Irish expects Malvern to be at full-strength apart from long-term injury victims Connor Giggle and Tom Hale.

He is hoping a good crowd will cheer on his mentroops.

“We have a lunch with a legend, featuring former Springbok Thinus Delport before the game, so hopefully we should have a big crowd to get behind our players,” said Irish.

Malvern produced a gritty display in overcoming county rivals Droitwich last weekend.

Prop Grant Fraser scored a try and Ben King kicked Malvern’s other points.

Irish said: “It wasn’t a game with much free-flowing rugby because Droitwich stuck to their game-plan, which was to keep the ball as tight as possible.

“Our defence was strong and our tackling was excellent. I don’t think we missed too many tackles.

“The conditions weren’t ideal and our final passes went astray too often but the lads kept trying to play and ground Droitwich down.

“As we get into the wetter months, we know we will have to adapt as the more forward-dominated teams start to see their 10-man game come into focus.

“I’m confident our pack is equal to anything because they have strength and mobility.

“A little more penetration from the back-line should add to the forward effort.”