Gallery
Chippenham 64 Malvern 26 Malvern took the field against a pack which was at least a stone heavier per man on their first visit to Allington Field on Saturday, but it was the Chippenham backs who caused them most problems. Three times in the first 10 minutes they found their way through an indecisive Malvern defence to score, and it wasn’t until the 15th minute that Malvern put together a fine move for Luke Milton to pull back 5 points. When Malvern did get the ball, the Chippenham defence was quickly up to force errors and the scrum struggled to contain the extra weight deployed against them. Three more tries by half time ended the game as a contest and the second half continued in the same vein, Malvern always on the back foot. When Malvern did get the ball, they were turned over as the stronger Chippenham forwards used their size to advantage and scored twice more. Malvern got into the home 22 metre area and a quick heel and gather saw James Southall nip through to score and Adam Dixon to convert. For the last 10 minutes Malvern got their act together and Ieuan Mustow personified their doggedness as he intercepted and outstripped the defence to run in from 70 metres. Never having given up, the Malvern spirit kept them going to the end and they were duly rewarded when Nick Miller went through to claim a losing bonus point. On a day when Malvern were beaten soundly by a bigger, faster side it would have been easy for the players to give up, but they tried their best and now look ahead to the visit of London Irish Wild Geese this Saturday, kick off 2.15pm., when they look to improve on the narrow early-season defeat.
