Loughborough Students 19th January

Luctonians 8 - 19 Loughborough Students

LUCTONIANS were unable to stop themselves slipping to their fifth league defeat of the season following their 19-8 return game against Loughborough Students in atrocious conditions at Mortimer Park on Saturday. The University side, which boasts several players on the books at clubs in the Guinness Premership, showed why they have a reputation for sporting excellence, turning in a measured display of skill and fitness to overcome their hosts.

The home side started brightly though, exerting considerable pressure on the Loughborough defence and in the 4th minute the visitors were penalised for handling in the ruck. Scrum-half Chris James slotted the penalty and the home side were off to a perfect start with a 3-0 lead. Loughborough however, fought back and were awarded a penalty after 20 minutes to allow full-back Grant Pointer to equal the scores. The superior fitness and organisation of the students began to tell, and in the 24th minute after some solid possession, the ball was moved wide for winger Andrew Wright squeeze in at the corner for an unconverted score. Ill-discipline followed from both teams with the Loughborough second row yellow-carded for a technical offence, shortly followed by home prop Stuart Bemand, who was sin-binned for unnecessary use of the boot at a ruck. Lucs were dealt a double blow when number 8 Paul Hulland was also yellow-carded for diving over at the breakdown.

The students took advantage of their numerical superiority in the 55th minute when Pointer added his second penalty after the hosts were caught offside under their own posts. A towering high ball from the Loughborough fly-half Steven Collins proved too much for the home defence who spilled the ball forward allowing flanker David Hughes to collect and cross wide out for the student's second unconverted score. A reshuffle in the Lucs back division proved fruitful when in the 65th minute excellent passing found winger Andy Garrod in space and he was able to scoot over near the touchline. James' conversion fell just short leaving the score at 16-8. The visitors turned in a composed final quarter performance, rarely making any errors in attack or defence and got their just rewards when from strong forward pressure, Collins sealed the points for the students with a 77th minute penalty.

This week Lucs face a long journey to take on relegation-threatened Peterborough, but after three consecutive defeats the Kingsland club will want to get their season back on track.