OLD REDS 15-17 LUCS
A FIRST VICTORY AT SCOTLAND LANE
Old Redcliffians RFC vs Luctonians RFC
Saturday 12th April 2025 – Scotland Lane
Match Report by Alex Smith
Luctonians continued their fine recent form in National League 2 West, as they won a tight tussle down in Bristol against Old Redcliffians 15-17, to make it four wins on the spin in this their penultimate fixture of the campaign.
As per their two previous visits to Old Redcliffians which Lucs lost narrowly on both occasions, the visitors lost the toss and would play the first half down the significant slope at the Scotland Lane ground. It looked like the Herefordshire men may have learnt their lessons from the past, in needing to capitalise on the advantage, as they scored early through scrum half Owen Randell after the Lucs pack demolished the hosts scrum, something that would become a theme for the rest of the day. Randell could not convert but Lucs lead 0-5 after three minutes.
The visitors were back camped on the Reds line very soon after, but poor handling allowed the hosts to break out and the chance was gone. On 15 minutes, after their first sustained spell of pressure, Old Reds would take the lead, as Oliver Stratton muscled his way over, following a break through the heart of the Lucs defence. Fly Half Zac Tomlin added the extras for a two point lead.
As has happened on both previous visits to this ground, Lucs then looked like they would hit the self destruct button. Dragged into a niggly battle, with lots of off-the-ball attention from the hosts, the black and whites made a number of mistakes, which allowed Reds to gain entry to the visitors 22.
Things then got significantly harder as first Tom Jones and then Caleb Montgomery saw yellow within the space of two minutes, the former for slapping the ball into touch and the latter for repeated team infringements.
Unsurprisingly the hosts would put the two-man advantage to use and flanker Jalen Curry went over for an unconverted score to give Reds a 12-5 lead after 24 minutes.
Curry would go from hero to villain five minutes later, as with Reds camped deep in Lucs territory and looking likely to score a potentially match-winning try, considering they were playing up the slope, he got involved in some off the ball skulduggery and was shown yellow.
This meant the final ten minutes of the half, saw the numerical advantage swing back to Lucs as their players returned from the bin and, despite having two good-looking try scoring opportunities ruled as held up over the line, they finally got over with the last play of the half, as skipper Ben Link dotted down at the back of a maul and with Randell converting the sides went in 12 a piece at the break.
Half Time Score
Old Redcliffians RFC 12 – 12 Luctonians RFC
The visitors knew it would take an enormous effort coming up the hill second half, and that is exactly what they put in.
Reds re-took the lead just three minutes into the period through a Tomlin penalty, but Lucs stuck to their task well, having the upper hand at set-piece, they worked their way up the field well and had another try ruled out for an adjudged forward pass in the left corner. However minutes later, they would not be denied and just before the hour mark, Jones made up for his previous indiscretion with a well weighted cross field kick that winger George Bennett expertly plucked out the sky before dotting down in that same left hand corner.
Randell was wayward with the conversion and Lucs had a quarter of the game to hold out at 15-17, but hold out they did in gritty style. Reds threw a lot at the visitors in those final minutes, but the black and white defence held firm to gain their first victory at a tough venue.
Half Time Score
Old Redcliffians RFC 15 – 17 Luctonians RFC
The victory consolidates Lucs’ 7th place position in a congested mid-table battle. The men from Kingsland will finish their campaign at Mortimer Park after a week off for Easter, as they host Hinckley, with the possibility of finishing still anywhere between 5th and 9th in the division, dependent upon final round results.
Luctonians Man of the Match
Joe White
You can check out the Live scoreline on our Facebook page and watch grandstand video footage of the Lucs tries HERE.