Mass brawl mars Malvern win - The Malvern Observer

Mass brawl mars Malvern win

Malvern Editorial 29th Oct, 2014 Updated: 20th Oct, 2016   0

THERE were unsavoury scenes at Spring Lane on Saturday as Malvern and Leamington players were involved in a mass brawl.

The hosts proved too good for the Warwickshire outfit as they cruised to a 53-10 victory, which moved them up to second in Midlands Two West (South).

But the match was marred when frustrations boiled over after a Leamington player allegedly head-butted James Redfearn. In the ensuing fracas George Roberts, who had been substituted, rushed on to the field to break up the scuffle before being brandished a straight red card by the referee.

Malvern director of rugby Dave Irish was reluctant to comment on the incident as he preferred to wait to see whether or not a decision was made to cite the Leamington player.




“Rugby is a tough enough game without resorting to violent and illegal acts, but we will give it a few days before deciding on our course of action,” he said.

“The Roberts red card was a direct result of the head-butting incident which started a fracas, but clearly he shouldn’t have entered the field of play, having been substituted.”


Roberts ended up having a mixed afternoon as he got Malvern off the mark. Richard Fleming used his strength to burst through the midfield channel before the ball was swiftly moved out to Roberts for the opening score, which Ben King converted.

Despite losing Fleming to a yellow card, Malvern utilised their superior forward power and James Southall touched down.

Leamington were struggling to contain the hosts who quickly extended their lead thanks to a well taken try from Stuart Clarke.

Malvern, who were continually causing Leamington problems in the scrum, then wrapped up the bonus point when Southall went over for his second.

Clarke soon followed suit as he made his way over the line for the second time in the first half after good work from Adam Green and Jack Longley.

This gave Malvern a 29-3 advantage at the break and they refused to hold back in the second period as King crashed through to score before converting his own try.

Malvern’s forwards were pushing their opposite numbers back with ease while Leamington’s defence continued to leak tries. Fleming ran straight through the visitors’ midfield to score before King went over.

After Roberts was sent off, Malvern were then reduced to 14 men when Luke Milton was sin-binned for an incident which gave Leamington a penalty try.

But Malvern made sure they had the final word in the contest as Longley crossed the whitewash late on.

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