MALVERN 10PTS, HEREFORD 26PTS

MALVERN'S first real Midlands Two West test came in the form of a resurgent Hereford side at Spring Lane on Saturday.

For the first 20 minutes it was Malvern, assisted by an increasing breeze, who penned the young Wyesiders deep in their own half and forced them to defend, which they did well.

The Malvern pack, so dominant in previous matches, met with far sterner opposition from a well-drilled set of forwards.

With so much riding on this local derby, both sides were slightly over anxious and made mistakes as they struggled for supremacy, and it wasn't until the 22nd minute that a poor Hereford clearance reached Chris Hooper, who opened the scoring with a 40m drop goal.

Hereford ground their way back into the game and some astute kicking by stand-off Collins took them upfield and he kicked a drop goal to equalise.

In the last five minutes of the half Malvern piled on the pressure, and having missed a simple penalty, took the ball into the Hereford 22 metre area. Winning a scrum, the build up went through four phases before skipper Ryan Watkins went through to score under the posts, Ted Lang converting.

There was a feeling around the large crowd that Malvern hadn't made the most of the enormous territorial possession whilst playing with the wind.

Malvern put early pressure on the Hereford line after Hooper had put a penalty to touch 15 metres out, but after mauling their way to the line and winning a second penalty, the resultant throw-in was not straight. This proved to be the turning point of the game as Hereford's escape also gave them heart. They ran the ball from deep and made their first major incursion into Malvern territory, winning a penalty, which they ran to put Collins in for a try in the 57th minute.

It was the visitors now in the ascendant and when Potter broke from the back of a scrum he put Billy Grisman in, his brother Jeremy converting for the lead. For the final 20 minutes Hereford took total control, disappointingly, home line-out ball was lost several times.

A dropped goal and penalty stretched Hereford's lead to 11 points with 10 minutes left, then Malvern showed naivety by kicking the ball away instead of finding touch. The reply was a well worked run from deep to give the Grismans a repeat of the earlier score and bragging rights to Hereford in the first Two Counties derby.