Bedford Athletic 16, Malvern 37.

A VISIT to National Three Midlands basement club Bedford at Putnoe Fields yielded the expected bonus point win for a Malvern side still beset with injury problems.

Having conceded a penalty to let the home side lead in the third minute, Malvern put together a fine set of forward drives, going through four phases before scrum-half James Southall took the ball from the back of the ruck to score. This gave Will Farris a simple conversion.

Bedford responded by running the ball back at Malvern and won another penalty for going over the top of the ruck four minutes later to peg the lead back to one point.

Southall joined the ever-lengthening casualty list with an ankle injury and Tom Hupfield moved to the nine spot for the first time in his Spring Lane career.

Malvern’s pack had the beating of their opposite numbers and dominated totally at the scrum and in the loose, driving forward to set up good ball for the backs.

Stand-off Adam Dixon made a telling break, Farris collected and jinked through to score then convert on the 15-minute mark.

With the pack in full cry, Malvern camped out on the Bedford five-metre line, opting for scrums when penalties were awarded.

Twice in six minutes Simon Daws picked up and went over to secure the bonus point well before half-time.

The second-half saw Malvern playing upfield and into a strong wind, so the instructions from coach Andy Longley were to keep possession and not to kick it away.

Liam Rolleston had a good run up the wing to set up another period of Malvern dominance, but Bedford won a penalty when Malvern failed to release the ball and ran downfield to score.

Skipper Phil Rawle then left the field with a broken nose, resulting in a reshuffle of the pack.

But this scarcely seemed to trouble the Malvern forwards, such was their dominance.

Farris put over a settling penalty, then Malvern again got into the Bedford red zone, winning a five-metre scrum which earned the Bedford open-side flanker a sin-bin rest for not binding.

Opting for the scrum once more, Malvern moved the ball out and switched play around for Humphries to waltz in with 12 minutes left.

But Malvern weren’t finished as Daws collected and put in a blistering 60-metre sprint to the Bedford 22, popping the ball up for the backs to move it across the line for Dominic Reagan to score.

A great cameo appearance by veteran prop Steve Cooper, clocking up his 23rd year of first XV appearances, saw him strip the ball away as Bedford threatened the Malvern line.

As the game drew to a close, Bedford put in a spirited finish as they ran in a consolation score deep into injury-time.