Luctonians 24 v 19 Stourbridge
Luctonians RFC v Stourbridge RFC
Saturday 18th December 2021
Mortimer Park
Match Reporter: Geoff Vickress
You won’t watch many games played with as much passion as this one. The atmosphere defied the dreary weather and both sides in this derby match produced a classic of commitment and desire and this coupled with the noise from the home support made this an enthralling occasion.
And Luctonians were well worth their victory over their close neighbours beating the table toppers with a well-deserved victory, and are still the only side outside the top 5 to beat one of the of the top 5 elite.
The home side opened the scoring following a delightful kick through from Tom Jones for Charlie Grimes to pounce upon and dive into the corner, Owen Randell converting. Defences were on top and there were some thumping tackles from both sides with no quarter being given. The visitors came back into the game when Jack Lea was driven over from a driving maul, Michael Heaney converting on the half hour to level up the scores.
Rob Bengry scored the pick of the tries for the home side when he finished a delightful flowing move through their backs to give them the lead, Randell converting, to ensure the home side went in to the good at oranges.
Half Time Score
Luctonians RFC 14 v 7 Stourbridge RFC
The passion rose to the boil from both sides early in the second half, with referee Lloyd Davies having to hand out Christmas yellow and red cards following a fracas with all the players involved in a mass melee.
Charlie Grimes (Lucs) and Stefan Thorp (Stour) saw yellow for being the instigators with Sam Jones (Lucs) and Matthew Perks (Stour) receiving a red version for foul play. And the visitors were down to 13 when Jack Lea received a yellow for a technical infringement.
Lucs turned the screws and camped in Stour’s 22, they were driven on by the raucous home crowd and were well worth their penalty try after 54 minutes to lead 21-7.
The visitors worked hard and in the gathering gloom with, with more extra minutes following a couple of injuries, they scrambled a try from Mark Harrison to keep their chances alive after 69mins, Heaney converting. But Lucs were awarded a penalty some 40 metres out near the death and the excellent Owen Randell cleared the bar with a kick that was dying as it went over to give Lucs a 10 point lead with time running out.
Stour did score at the death when Jack Lea got his second try well into added time but when Heaney missed the conversion and the whistle blew the Mortimer Park faithful erupted as they put one over their neighbours to send everyone home with an excellent early Christmas present.
The support given to our boys today was incredible, and the noise generated immense. After the match, chatting with the Referee, Lloyd Davies, he commented that he thought that “the atmosphere was brilliant”.
Even Tomo was waxing lyrical about the performance and might even smile on Christmas Day this year following this win over the visitors.
Full Time Score
Luctonians RFC 24 v 19 Stourbridge RFC
Luctonians Scorers
Tries: Charlie Grimes (8), Rob Bengry (32), Penalty Try (54)
Convs: Owen Randell (9,33)
Pens: Owen Randell (79)
Stourbridge Scorers
Tries: Jack Lea (26,83), Mark Harrison (69)
Convs: Michael Heaney (27, 70)
Star Man
Owen Randell
(Luctonians)
Luctonians
Giles Morell; Charlie Grimes; Oscar Rowley; Frank Kelly; Rob Bengry; Tom Jones; Owen Randell: Brad Smith; Connor Deignan; Joe White; Owien Harriot-Davis; Tom Smith; Henry Monkley; Seb Robinson; Sam Jones
Replacements: Jordan Street; Sam Hayler; Cheick Kone; Jack Forsyth; Lewis Parkes
Stourbridge
Mark Harrison; Matthew Moseley; Arthur Morgan; Hal Riley; Daniel Rundle; Afeafe Haisila; Michael Heaney : Stefan Thorp; Jack lea; Mark George; Matthew Perks; Nicholas Murphy; Ben Meakin; Jasper Smith; Tatenda Mukarati
Replacements: Clarkson McLeod; Alexander Maxwell; Michael Protheroe; Sebastien Atkinson; Frederick Morgan
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