PLAYER-coach Alan Keylock says Malvern’s 15-7 victory over Whitchurch on Saturday could be a turning point in their season.
The experienced forward and James Swain scored the decisive tries as Malvern recovered from their 115-0 defeat at Midlands One West leaders Lichfield last week to clinch a morale-boosting win.
Keylock said a meeting was called at Spring Lane following the 17-try thrashing, which was one of heaviest defeats in the club’s history, and he was delighted by the way the senior players responded.
He believes Saturday’s victory could be a significant moment in the club’s campaign as they bid to avoid successive relegations.
“It was an all or nothing match, but all the senior players really stepped up and everyone pulled together. There was just a complete belief within the side,” Keylock said.
“If Whitchurch looked at last week’s match report naturally they are going to think ‘right we should win this’. But we started very strongly and we didn’t let up. We were also more ruthless than we have been this season, which was brilliant to see.”
“We just needed to try to maximise what we have got and I thought the senior players like James Hynes, Richard Fleming and Jamie Anderson really showed on Saturday that they wanted it, which others couldn’t help but follow.”
Keylock said Malvern have now got the perfect opportunity to secure back-to-back victories when they host struggling Old Laurentians, who they narrowly lost to earlier this season, on Saturday (2.15pm).
“It helps that we have got another home game now, so if we can just take the momentum of that win on Saturday into this weekend’s game there is no reason why we can’t get a bonus point victory against Old Laurents,” he added.
“We were beating them comfortably in the second game of the season, but we just fell apart and gave the game away in the final ten minutes. It was a sign of a team which had not played enough rugby. But we are more confident now and I think the bounce of the ball is beginning to turn for us.”