Dudley Kingswinford 16th February

Luctonians 41 - 3 Dudley Kingswinford

LUCTONIANS continued their recent resurgence in league form on Saturday to record a comprehensive 41-3 triumph over West Midlands rivals Dudley Kingswinford at Mortimer Park. At times the Kingsland side put together some faultless attacking rugby but also found themselves lacking in urgency in others, preventing them from running up a cricket score against a poor Dudley team.

Early pressure from the visitors came to nothing when Lucs surged back upfield and forced their visitors to concede a penalty, which scrum-half Chris James slotted for a 3-0 lead. Lucs built on their early lead when Australian hooker Nick Byron was on hand to cross after a superb handling movement involving backs and forwards. James was on target to add the extras. Full back Andy Garrod showed off his renowned counter-attacking ability for Lucs' next unconverted score, showing neat footwork to dodge multiple defenders to go in from long-distance following a loose clearance kick from Dudley. Garrod got his second score following a carbon-copy of his first, this time dodging and weaving his way under the posts to give James an easy conversion and his team a comfortable 22-0 lead. Lucs sat back and allowed the visitors to work their way into the homehalf, finally conceding a penalty at the breakdown to allow Dudley outside-half Cameron Pimlow to get his side on the board with a penalty just before half-time.

Intent on building on their score, the home side put together a sustained attack, going through multiple phases to enable second-rower Tim Breakwell, who was in support out-wide, to get his second score in two weeks. James slotted the conversion for a 29-3 lead. A number of changes to the home side was catalyst for a lull in thematch, with Byron being forced off with an ankle injury and Ben James giving way to Dan Woodside for tactical reasons. This frustrating period of play culminated in home back-rower Joe Skipper being yellow-carded for his team's persistent offending at thebreakdown. But on 61 minutes a good break from wing Mark Panniers enabled scrum-half James, who was in support, to collect a pass and cross out-wide although he was unable to convert. Another tactical changes was followed by a yellow-card for Dudley flanker James Bullock before more pressure from the Lucs forwards allowed centre Cameron Hewitt to cross for the final try of the game. James converted to give the home side a comfortable 41-3 result.

This week Lucs will face Solihull in a rearranged North Midlands Cup fixture, the match will give Lucs a chance to try out several squad players before they face a long trip to Bedford Athletic on March 1.