DIRECTOR of Rugby David Irish bowed out in style as Malvern put Leamington to the sword with a 29-15 victory in Midlands Two West (South) at Spring Lane on Saturday.
Irish, who announced his departure last week due to his role becoming ‘increasingly demanding’, has handed the reins over to coach Billy McGinty, who will lead the club until the end of the season.
“I’ve been privileged to serve Malvern as a player, captain, coach and director of rugby over the years,” said Irish.
“With two sons in the mini and junior section, I’m still going to be around the club for many years and look forward to watching Malvern continue to thrive.”
Malvern started brightly and, after going through the phases and building up momentum, they finally forced a penalty which Ben King converted.
The Warwickshire side tried to hit back immediately, but Malvern’s defence propelled a barrage of attacks and, after a potential scoring run by Tom Hale saw the winger illegally held back as he chipped and chased, the hosts were soon awarded another penalty which King scored to double their lead.
Malvern continued to assert their authority as they kept Leamington on the back foot and once again forced a penalty which King successfully slotted over to put the hosts 9-0 up at the interval.
The visitors came out at speed in the second half, testing the Malvern defence time and again, but to no prevail.
As the conditions worsened, both sides were guilty of errors and struggled to get a foothold into the game, until a loose ball was quickly recycled to Conor Giggle, who burst across the whitewash from halfway for Malvern’s first try.
Following another King penalty which put Malvern 19-0 up, Leamington launched a comeback and scored their first try of the game from a catch and drive following a 5metre lineout.
Malvern soon restored the gap when Rory Atkins put in a double dummy to stretch the defence, before Luke Milton joined the line and fed Hale to storm over the try-line.
After Malvern cleared a threat, the speedy winger was at the fore again as he darted through to ground and put the game out of sight, despite two late Leamington tries from catch and drive moves.
Irish added: “We put in a fine performance under extremely difficult conditions without sacrificing our running game.
“To see our new intake from the Colts slot in so well is terrific and is underlined by Atkins’ two successive man of the match awards.”
Malvern finish the first half of the season at high-flying Spartans on Saturday (2.15pm).
