MALVERN Rugby’s home clash with Spartans came to a halt after 67 minutes following a serious injury but their lead of 30-19 stood as a final result.
Jack Longley’s ankle injury late in the West Midlands Two clash led an air ambulance to land onto the pitch to the concern of all the players involved.
The incident overshadowed a fine Malvern performance against a side which had inflicted a 54-10 defeat on them back in November – their heaviest of the season.
Malvern started with purpose with Richard Fleming bursting through two tackles and feeding the returning Tom Hale for the opening score, which Ben King converted.
Spartans responded straight away as they worked their way upfield and stretched the home defence, until scoring a try and conversion to level the game.
The Malvern defence was again tested as the Sutton Coldfield side went through some well practised moves and finally broke through to take the lead, with another converted try.
King showed a return to his old kicking form by slotting over to bring Malvern back to within four points, and after a quick intercept of a Spartans pass, Fleming burst his way in to take the lead – King again converting.
Soon after though, Spartans won a penalty and moved the ball well once more to score a try and retake the lead, but another penalty kick from King saw the home side enter the interval 20-19 up.
The second half started with Malvern showing plenty of self-belief with their forwards putting in a hard working shift of twelve phases, before Liam Roleston touched down and King again put over the conversion.
One more penalty kick from King was to follow before Longley’s injury halted proceedings.
