Burton 19, Malvern 10.

A TYPICAL end-of-season affair saw a relegated Burton side play for pride and with passion to overcome a much-changed Malvern team.

Although the Spring Lane men looked by far the more talented rugby-playing outfit when running the ball, they conspired to indulge in much foot-shooting during the afternoon with knock-ons, forward passes and several turnovers when in possession.

This failure to hold on to possession was Malvern’s undoing, and Burton took the lead from a short side move after a scrum after 20 minutes. Each time Malvern made good ground, they lost the ball in the loose or conceded a penalty.

Soon, a Burton penalty led to a catch-and-drive for their second try.

Malvern’s scrummaging was uncharacteristically poor and the well-drilled home unit started to shade things in the tight, not helped by the loss of Christian Edwards to the sin-bin for a high tackle at the restart.

At the start of the second-half Malvern beefed up their forward play and a quickly taken penalty saw Richard Fleming charge through the home defence to score and set up Liam Gwynne’s conversion after 49 minutes.

Malvern continued to press, putting a penalty into the Burton 22, but then lost the line out to turn over possession yet again. However, they managed to take against the head at the scrum and more pressure led to a Gwynne penalty to narrow the score gap to two points.

This should have been the signal to pile on the agony, but Burton responded far more convincingly and upped their game, while Malvern missed tackles and kicked away possession needlessly. This allowed Burton to dominate the last quarter of the game, although a promising Meadows and Miller break-out so nearly paid off, the final pass being knocked forward.

More Malvern pressure on the Burton line saw two home players yellow carded in quick succession.

With 15 playing 13, this should have been the time for the killer punch to be delivered, but Burton put in a defiant performance to drive Malvern upfield.

The visitors suffered the final ignominy of being pushed off by a depleted home pack, who were awarded a converted penalty try at the death. Probably Malvern’s worst performance of the season, this should be quickly written off and any end-of-season complacency addressed.

Andy Longley’s side still have a final away league game at bottom-placed Hereford on May 7, who still have a mathematical chance of avoiding relegation, and who will do whatever it takes to win what could be their last match in this division.