Sat 4 Nov 2023
Redditch welcomed 4th placed Malvern 2nd to Bromsgrove Road on Saturday and were unlucky to find themselves 0-3 down at half time after a late penalty to Malvern.
Redditch missed with two early penalty attempts as they defended aggressively throughout the first half. They met the challenge of the Malvern fliers with strong tackling forcing numerous handling errors from the visitors. However, Redditch were not able to capitalise on the turnovers as the Malvern defence was also equal to the task.
11 minutes into the second half Redditch were awarded a lineout deep in the Malvern half. A planned move round the front of the lineout saw Richie Beddard cross for the first try of the afternoon taking Redditch into a narrow lead.
Within the next 5 minutes Redditch were to suffer a decisive blow as full back Archie Beddard was forced to leave the field through injury. With a rearranged backline, Malvern were able to take advantage and fed the ball wide to the left crossing for a try which was converted taking the score to 5-10. Within 2 minutes a rather messy period of play saw Malvern burst through once again to score wide on the left again, despite excellent cover tackling from Will Heath.
And once again on 26 minutes the Malvern backs broke free to take the score to 5-22.
And then Redditch seemed to settle again and hammered the Malvern line. Big carries from Dan Oscroft and Mikey Adams were met with stern defence from the visitors and The Kingfishers were unable to add to their score.
Malvern had a final flourish with the fullback gathering an aimless kick on his own 22 and setting off on a fantastic run through paper thin Redditch defence. However on this occasion Will Heath was able to make his cover tackle stick to keep the final score to 5-22.
Man of the match went to Prop Joe Purvis for a continued show of committed tackling and strong scrummaging.
Next week the Kingfishers travel to Old Halesonians whist the Exiles will take on Stourbridge Lions at home. Both games kick off at 2:15PM
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