Broadstreet Oct 6th

Luctonians 21 - Broadstreet 0

On the perfect day for rugby Luctonians put aside the disappointment of winning by 34 points to 7 at Dudley Kingswinford the previous Saturday only to have to replay the fixture because of a technicality. Lucs shelved their frustration to convincingly defeat Coventry visitors Broadstreet by 21 points to nil and reclaim the top spot in Midlands One denied them by the DK debacle.

Broadstreet had also won all four of their opening league matches but they were second best on the day as their shortcomings were exposed by a clinical Lucs’ performance. The Lucs forwards controlled the match with the backs making good use of the possession to run in three crisp tries. Broadstreet applied the early pressure but the pattern of the game was set at the first Broadstreet scrum when the visitors were shunted backwards by a motivated Lucs’ eight. In the sixteenth minute fly half Danny Richards had the opportunity to put Broadstreet ahead but his penalty drifted wide and in truth that was the extent of the Broadstreet threat in the first half.

Lucs put the match out of reach in the second quarter with three unanswered tries. In the twenty fifth minute centre Cameron Hewitt punched through from midfield possession for left wing Andy Garrod to touch down and fly half Brett Prior added the extra points. Minutes later a Prior penalty hit the posts and right wing Pete Smith following fast forced a hurried clearance which number eight Paul Hulland gathered to set up a position for scrum half Ollie Williams to snipe over. Prior added his second conversion and on half time sliced through for centre Charlie Meredith to claim Lucs’ third try. Prior’s final conversion saw Lucs turn around with a 21 point lead and the victory virtually assured.

To Broadstreet’s credit however they fronted up in the second half but still failed to unlock a resolute Lucs’ defence. Lucs’ performance dropped a notch perhaps, lacking the precision and dynamism of the first half and they failed to convert several scoring opportunities into points. Nevertheless it was a sound all around display and puts Lucs back at the top of the table with a game in hand, the replay at DK next week. Based on the evidence of their previous encounter Lucs should duly reclaim the two points but Saturday’s results in the two Rugby World Cup quarter finals should give them food for thought. Never discount the underdog.