DIRECTOR of rugby Dave Irish admitted he was astounded by a bizarre finish which denied Malvern a draw against Midlands Two West (South) leaders Old Laurentians.

Kicker Nathan Dunford was lining up a conversion, with Malvern trailing 12-10, when two visiting players ran towards the ball and kicked it downfield.

The referee blew for full-time and the decision was met with anger and dismay by the Malvern players after such a good contest.

“In all my years of involvement in rugby I’ve never seen anything quite like that,” said Irish.

“This just makes us more determined to get out there and win as many games as possible, and we have the chance to level the scores later in the season when we travel to Old Laurentians for the return fixture.”

Malvern claimed the Laurentian players had set off on a charge before Dunford moved his feet, which is contrary to the laws of the game.

But Irish refused to criticise the match officials and said Malvern’s players had to accept the defeat despite the manner.

Despite conceding an early try, Malvern competed on equal terms throughout, answering the visitors’ early score with a classic move, the ball being switched quickly across the field and back again for Laurie Essenhigh to scamper in for a score.

The conversion was short and the score remained at 7-5 for much of the match as both sides put in good defensive work.

The visitors’ game was largely based around their stand-off, who kicked superbly to give them good field positions, but every attack was rebuffed by Malvern’s fine defence.

Malvern were several players short of full strength and a broken nose to influential centre Ben King in the first half caused little disruption.

The first half ended with Malvern on the attack, but a bit of over-elaboration caused a scoring chance to break down just before the interval.

The second half saw the struggle for supremacy continue in the same vein, with the visitors kicking deep and Malvern countering.

One great move involving half-backs Essenhigh and Adam Dixon took Malvern into the away 22-metre area.

However, a penalty was conceded as a Malvern player was adjudged to have entered the ruck from the side.

The Rugby-based team broke the deadlock after they won a scrum deep in Malvern territory, moving the ball out quickly and breaching the home defence to score a converted try.

Malvern showed their fighting spirit to the end, driving deep into visiting territory, winning a penalty plus another 10 metres as the visitors lost discipline.

The ball was shipped to winger Nick Clarke, who hurtled through to score and set up the all-important conversion kick which was never struck.