MALVERN Rugby Club bounced back from their first defeat of the season last week to hold joint league leaders Lichfield to an exciting draw on Saturday.

David Robins, Malvern's director of rugby, was delighted with the performance of his much-changed side that gained a tight 3-3 draw.

He said: "With four changes in the pack and a new half back pairing our line up could have been seen as experimental. However, our training regime is such that the squad is very interchangeable and I was delighted with the way the new guys slotted in.

"Jamie Gwynne showed why he was English Universities scrum half with a long, flat pass that gave us more time and options. Richard Fleming's line-breaking strength was a welcome return and Ted Lang was excellent in defence, whilst Edwards and Hobbs were perpetual motion.

"We now have an exciting crop of youngsters at Malvern, balanced by the experience of older hands like Dave Merlin, Gareth Taylor and Matt Richardson, all of whom bring a National League pedigree to the field. With injured players like Wenden, Hynes, Rawle and Roberts on the road to recovery, and some strong contenders from the second XV staking a claim, we have one of the strongest squads I can remember wanting that first team shirt.

"I must also say a word about the referee. He is a young man from Cambridge University, who refereed a potentially explosive game extremely well. His clear, firm instructions led to a physically hard but clean and fair contest. Having been a referee, and also a critic, in the past, it was very pleasing to see such an accomplished performance.

"We host lowly Barkers Butts at Spring Lane on Saturday (2.15pm kick off) hoping to try to regain some of the points difference lost after the RFU decision over the Newbold match. We then face two more tough matches against Burton and Solihull to complete the first half fixtures.

"I believe that any one of five teams could be in the final promotion mix, so we must aim to be consistent over the long term."