Peterborough 20th October

LUCTONIANS 52 – PETERBOROUGH 15

Luctonians entertained Peterborough at Mortimer Park and with a comfortable 52 points to 15 victory retained their position at the top of Midlands One. The forwards again laid the foundation for the success as the backs made good use of the possession to run in five tries.

It was a solid all round performance apart from a short lapse in the final quarter when Lucs midfield defence inexplicably evaporated and gifted Peterborough two soft tries. As Lucs stood under the posts awaiting the second conversion skipper Chris Jaques made his feelings known in pithy Anglo-Saxon and his vituperations had the desired effect as Lucs tightened their game for the final thrust and the forwards had the satisfaction of driving the Peterborough pack over the line for Lucs’ final try.

Peterborough opened the scoring with a second minute penalty from fly half James Allan but Lucs’ rebuttal was swift as centre Cameron Hewitt shook off a tackle for wing Andy Garrod to cut inside for the try. Full back Jeremy Wheadon added the conversion, the prelude to a faultless afternoon’s kicking with seven conversions and a penalty and a haul of 17 points. In the tenth minute centre Charlie Meredith ran in Lucs’ second try as he drifted in off the right to finish a move that had started in the Lucs’ twenty two. Lucs should then have added two further tries, the first when flanker Dan Woodside broke up the middle and again when Hewitt cut through but Lucs were unable to finish the moves and the opportunities were lost.

Hewitt’s thrust did result in a penalty however, and Wheadon stroked it over to keep the scoreboard ticking along. Before the break Lucs had scored two further tries through Pete Smith when he entered the line from his blind side wing and Garrod who ran in his second try after Lucs had pinched Peterborough line out ball. At half time the score of 31 points to 3 was a fair reflection of Lucs’ supremacy.

Lucs continued to rack up the points at the restart. Garrod escaped down the blind from ruck ball to put Number 8 Paul Hulland over and then Hewitt, before he was substituted, punched through the middle for Lucs’ sixth try. Lucs were coasting and the 50 point mark was beckoning but then in that brief lapse the Lucs midfield defence went walkabout and in the space of three minutes gifted Peterborough two tries. Wing Owen Pearce cut inside from the right brushing aside several featherweight tackles for the first and prop Nico Steencamp in trademark fashion stampeded his way through for the second. Lucs regrouped however and had the final word as the Lucs scrum drove over for Hulland to register his second try, the Wheadon conversion being a formality.

Next week’s clash with Loughborough Students away may well prove to be Lucs’ biggest challenge to date and the Lucs pack will need to be on top form to deny the students possession..

Huw Davies