MALVERN’S director of rugby Dave Irish remained upbeat after a hard-fought 26-8 home defeat against title-chasing Newbold-on-Avon in Midlands Two West (South).

Irish felt his fifth-placed side defended heroically against the visitors who are joint top of the table with Old Laurentians.

Irish said: “Our lads performed well against a side who must be favourites to win the league.

“We certainly made them work hard for their victory and were unlucky not to have a couple more scores to our credit.

“We now look to collect a couple of wins, away to Nuneaton Old Edwardians and home to a tricky Old Coventrians side, before the challenge of an away fixture at Old Laurentians.”

He added: “We will keep applying the lessons learned in training as we seek to improve and consolidate our position in the top half of the table.”

Malvern had the first chance to open the scoring after Jordan Nwachukwu forced a penalty but Ben King’s attempt was caught by the swirling wind and bounced off a post.

Newbold were awarded a penalty in Malvern’s 22 but opted for a scrum but they knocked on. However, Newbold won another but Malvern’s defence remained firm.

Newbold were then awarded a free kick and they took it quickly to go through for a converted try.

Malvern attacked from the restart and made inroads into the Newbold half and were rewarded with a penalty of their own, which King slotted.

Newbold relied on their impressive scrum to do the damage while Malvern’s defence was courageous in keeping them at bay.

Close to half-time Newbold scored again when the referee appeared to miss a knock on and the conversion gave the visitors a 14-3 lead at the break.

The visitors had a strong wind in their favour in the second-half, but Malvern made most of the running. The visiting defence proved too well drilled and kept their line safe.

Against the run of play, Newbold hacked the ball downfield and Malvern had to scurry back to ensure a 22 metre drop out. From this, Newbold set up a counter attack and their stand-off went through for a well worked try.

Newbold again forced Malvern back, winning penalties and opting for scrums as they tried to push Irish’s men back, but the addition of Alex Easterby steadied the home eight and they cleared the danger.

Malvern broke out of defence and were nearly clear for a try only for the referee to bring back play back for a penalty.

Malvern lost Joe Wilkes as Newbold managed to secure the ball. The visitors won a scrum and broke for a fine converted try to go 26-3 ahead and secure the try bonus point.

Malvern didn’t give up and had the last say when they intercepted the ball and George Roberts sped through to score.