MALVERN finished their pre-season warm-up matches in style as they scored 10 tries in a thumping 65-15 win over Cleobury Mortimer at Malvern College.

Captain Tom Hale scored a first-half hat-trick before Connor Giggle completed his treble in the second period.

Frankie Purcell bagged a brace while there were also tries for Ieuan Mustow and Rory Atkins.

Many players stood out for Malvern, particularly Joe Weaver, who came on at stand-off later in the game.

The return of Jack Longley from injury and Adam Green, back from Australia, were also welcome sights.

Cleobury deservedly opened the scoring with a penalty.

But this proved to be exactly the spur Malvern needed as they charged down a clearance for Hale to kick, chase and dot down.

From the restart Malvern fielded the ball deep in their own half before scrum half Purcell set up an easy conversion for Rob Cook.

The hosts’ early season rustiness was showing at times, but they remained patient and often got their reward.

Hale scorched through for his second try after receiving a pass from Mustow who then benefitted from a fine run from Cook to score himself.

Malvern added another as Adam Dixon sold a dummy and broke to give Hale a pass to secure his hat trick.

The skipper was quickly back in action as he combined with Cook before Giggle shrugged off two defenders to get over the try line. Cook added the extras to give Malvern a 34-3 advantage at half-time.

Despite making several changes, Malvern remained on the front foot with Giggle going over after gathering Dixon’s chip.

Cleobury’s youngsters never gave up, though, and were rewarded as they hacked on a loose ball, won the chase and scored.

However, they then paid for some naivety as a defender tried to chip clear and only succeeded in kicking straight to Rory Atkins, who ran through for a simple try.

It was then Jack Curtis’s turn to shine as he sped in from 60 metres, leaving a despairing defence in his wake, before some good teamwork ended with Jon Bywater linking up to put Giggle in for his hat trick.

A minor debacle at a lineout saw Cleobury score in the corner, but Malvern had the last say when Purcell, back on the field as a winger, stormed in for the final try of the day.