Spartans hosted pre season title favourites Malvern

Spartans 10, Malvern 29.

Spartans hosted pre season title favourites Malvern and in an excellent advert for junior rugby, despite a superb effort from The Men In Black the the form book was not disturbed.

The opening exchanges saw a slick Malvern outfit move the ball well but Spartans were up to the challenge and an early stalemate followed. The visitors used the extra man gained from a harsh yellow card well, and a very special fly half broke the home defence to create a fine try. Gradually the home side clawed their way back in, but National League experience saw an older, wiser Malvern side punish the smallest mistake and only scrambled defence kept the score down. Malvern opted to kick for more points and stretched their lead with a couple of penalties, but Spartans created some good chances to stay in touch.

The second half continued in similar fashion; Malvern relied on their experience, size and pace to dictate the game but the Black defence worked tirelessly to keep the scoreboard still. Both sides seemed keen to play running rugby and the full touch line were enjoying the spectacle, but the writing was on the wall with Spartans always under pressure. The home side closed the gap with a well struck penalty and for a brief moment Malvern were rattled by a lovely try out wide and immaculate conversion, but they responded well through an excellent full back to stay in charge. The final few minutes saw a dog tired black defence reach 118 tackles in the game which tells it's own story, but The Dark Side can take heart from their part in an entertaining clash with a very classy outfit.

This week Spartans take a break from league rugby with a difficult task provided by Dronfield in the RFU National Intermediate Cup.