South Leicester 5th January

Luctonians 5 - 6 South Leicester

A LUCTONIANS team ravaged by injury and illness went down to bogey team South Leicester by the smallest possible margin last weekend in a desperately close affair in the East Midlands. Missing no less than four front row forwards the Kingsland club were

forced to draw on several reserve players and play a number of others out of position.

Debutant front-rowers Mike Jones and Jamie Fletcher acquitted themselves well at the top level along with Flanker Ben James while seasoned Hooker Stuart Bemand was forced to make the unfamiliar switch to Prop. Despite these setbacks Lucs defied the odds and dominated the opening exchanges taking the lead after just 5 minutes. Intense forward pressure from the visitors created space for the ball to be moved down the backline to allow Winger Andy Garrod to cross in the corner for an unconverted score. Lucs continued to pressurise their opponents and could have taken the lead on two occasions but both of Fly-half Brett Prior's penalty attempts were off-target. The home side did gain some momentum and registered a penalty through the boot of Fly-Half Matt Lord in the 20th minute following a Lucs indiscretion. Lord could have put his side in front but the league's top point scorer was unable to convert his penalty attempt to leave the Herefordshire side in front 5-3 at the break.

The visitors continued to have the better of the play but it was South Leicester who took the lead with a Lord penalty in the 65th minute after a brief foray into the Lucs half. Lucs once again upped the intensity of their play but failed to capitalise on their solid ground work, although they thought they had taken the lead late on after Hooker Nick Byron forced his way over - but the referee, claiming he was unsighted, overruled the score. South Leicester held on to record a narrow 6-5 victory and condemn the

visitors to their fourth defeat of the season pushing them down to 5th in Midlands 1.

Next week Lucs travel to Merseyside to face the difficult task of overcoming Birkenhead Park in the 4th round of the EDF Intermediate Cup before they prepare for possibly the hardest fixture of the season when they take on the dominant Loughborough Students at home in the league.