Luctonians 36 v 19 Stourbridge

Luctonians RFC v Stourbridge RFC
Saturday 29th October 2022 – Mortimer Park
Match Reporter – Geoff Vickress

Luctonians sent their local rivals, Stourbridge, home empty handed following a sound performance in this local derby.

The visitors started the game with some purpose and gave the home side a few scares before Lucs had their first foray into Stour’s half, and scored through wing Charlie Grimes following excellent work by Connor Deignan and Louis Silver. Silver converted for a 7-0 lead.

And it was all Lucs until half time, with captain Joe White being driven over from close in on 17 minutes, Silver again converting, and Will Pearson following suit when he broke away from the pack to dive over on the half hour to give the home side a 24-0 lead.

James Wheeler, for Lucs, was held up over the whitewash a couple of minutes later, but it wasn’t long before the excellent Ben Link was driven over to give the home side a 24-0 lead.

At this stage Lucs looked like scoring at will, but Stourbridge proved to be of stern stuff and reduced arrears on halftime when Mukarati was driven through a crowd of players; Archie Heard converting to send the sides in 24-7 at oranges.

HALF TIME SCORE
Luctonians RFC 24 v 7 Stourbridge RFC

The large home support was expecting much the same from their team into the second half, but the game became scrappy with both sides guilty of penalties for infringements which killed the entertainment for the large crowd.

Lucs added to their score with a Connor Deignan try almost straight after the restart, Silver again converting to put the game beyond the visitors at 31-7. And Ben Links second try on 52 minutes, again when driven over from close in, gave them a 36-7 lead with half an hour to play.

Stour’s centre, Arthur Morgan, deservedly got one back for his endeavours; Heard again converting to bring the visitors back to 36-14.

However, the game became somewhat disjointed in the final quarter, and yellows followed for Will Pearson of Lucs for a high tackle, and Hayden Link of Stourbridge for foul play.

With the clock running down, Heard intercepted a Lucs loose pass, on half way, to complete the scoring giving Stour some respectability at 36-19 on the final whistle.

Lucs will be well pleased to put one over their local foe and gain 5 points, with Stour dropping into the bottom two following another defeat in what has been a very difficult season for them to date.

FULL TIME SCORE
Luctonians RFC 36 v 19 Stourbridge RFC

SCORERS

Luctonians

Tries:  Grimes (12), White (17), Pearson (22), Link (31, 52), Deignan (44)
Conv: Silver (13, 18, 45)

Stourbridge

Tries: Mukarati (39), Morgan (58), Heard (80)
Conv: Heard (40,59)

STAR MAN

Mat Hackley
Luctonians

TEAMS

Luctonians
Watkins, Grimes, Bengry, Parkes, Wheeler, Jones, Silver; Deignan, Link B, White © , Harriott-Davis, Smith T, Benson, Pearson, Hackley
Replacements: Smith B, Powell, Whiteman, Robinson, Nott

Stourbridge
Gittoes, Ororo, Morgan, Wilson, Moseley, Heard, Heaney; Sturdy, Olver, Thorp, Roach, Walker, Mifsud, Mukarati
Replacements: McLoud, Link H, Hackett, Bridgewater, Piggott-Denison

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