STOW-ON-THE-WOLD remain top of the Regional 2 Midlands West table following a 47-10 victory over strugglers Malvern at Spring Lane on Saturday afternoon.

Malvern led 3-0 after the opening 35 minutes of the contest despite being a man down following a second yellow for prop John Clark, but a strong end to the half from the visitors saw them take a 14-3 lead into half-time.

Stow soon extended that lead in the second-half but Ben King responded for Malvern to reduce the deficit before more cards were shown.

Stow's prop received his second yellow of the game following an off-the-ball incident with Malvern's Ant Hitchings, who received a straight red from the referee to see the hosts reduced to 13.

14 v 13 for the rest of the game proved a step too far for Malvern and Stow showed why they are top of the league with a clinical final 20 minutes.

The extra man and extra space on the pitch enabled the likes of scrum-half James Gibbs, wingers Zebedee Waite and William Debenham and full-back Dave O’Sullivan to take advantage and rack up a big score in the end.

The result, their fourth league win in a row, sees Stow remain top of the table with 57 points from 15 matches. They are just a single point clear of Silhillians and it looks as if the title race is going to go down to the wire.

As for Shipston on Stour, they were narrow 17-11 victors over visitors Moseley Oak on Saturday, moving themselves up the table into eighth.

It was the perfect response to their defeat to Cotswold rivals Stow the week prior and now they will move into a rest week as they prepare for the final games of the 2023/24 season.

Elsewhere in the division, there were wins for Ludlow, Hereford, Silhillians and Stratford Upon Avon.