Copy
WLS IT Solutions LucsLine Newsletter
View this email in your browser


WLS IT Solutions Lucsline 573 - 8th April 2022

Short, sharp Lucsline this week, but good news to tell of on the whole.

Last weekend provided a stern test of where our 1st team are in terms of ambitions and competitiveness within this league, and whilst they tasted defeat, going down 35-22 at a tasty Fylde outfit, in conditions very well suited to the hosts impressive continuity-based game, there was much to be happy about from a Lucs perspective. Despite the score-line it was five tries to four on the day, and whilst our styles of play were contrasting, a little more accuracy at lineout and with our goalkicking and things could have been much tighter on the score board. It was certainly not our best performance of the season, so to get relatively close in spite of that was a real positive.

In Leicestershire, the 2nd XV achieved an excellent 12-19 result at Syston 2nds. An extremely youthful side containing two colts in Gethin Davies (recently selected to the England U18 Counties Squad) and Arthur Rider, outgunned a Syston team that by their own admission contained several 1st team players who could not travel to Sheffield for their Midlands Premier fixture. The win puts our lads in pole position to take the Midlands Reserve League Division 1 title, needing just one more win from our two outstanding fixtures away at Lichfield and Nuneaton to achieve this. Back at home the 3rd XV comprehensively beat Evesham 2nds 60-10 in a friendly. A massive thank you to Evesham for actually travelling for a game!

The RMS Colts trip to Newport was cancelled as the hosts could not raise a team, whilst our Ladies Touch side turned in a promising performance away at the Malvern Tournament of the Midlands Ladies Touch League, finishing in 5th overall. 

Back at Mortimer Park, for the first time since 2019, we were able to host our annual Anglo-Welsh Mini Festival. What a cracking day it was as well. A massive thank you to the huge pool of volunteers, from Wombles, to Junior Committee, to Main Committee, parents, junior players and the many senior players involved, it was a full club effort to put that festival on. It was the 25th version of this event, which makes our Mini Festival one of the oldest around (these days most clubs are trying to run one of these), and yet it is still absolutely up there in terms of one of the very best festivals out there, not signified by our own opinion of the job, but by the immense level of feedback we have received from the clubs that visited. It was an absolute pleasure to see Mortimer Park back to hosting a day like this after the past few years - that is exactly the sort of day that signifies why we all do what we do at this great club!

This week our latest episode of the Podcast - Tales of Luctonia, was released so please get on to Spotify or Apple Music and download. This month's edition, 'A change from the Norm', focused on discussions around our reserve sides and how things have progressed in the 2nd and 3rd XVs over recent years.

 
This weekend then, and the boys are back at 'The Park' hosting Hull Ionians. It is the first of back-to-back home games against Yorkshire opponents, with Sheffield Tigers also visiting us next Saturday. With both sides comfortably mid-table it could be argued not loads to play for, but our lads are gunning for a top half finish, with 7th spot still the aim and a win here is important in achieving that, not to mention the pride these boys have in pulling the shirt on at home - expect them to come flying out the blocks. The 2nd XV travel to Lichfield 2nds in search of that league clinching away win, whilst the RMS Colts visit Stafford in a friendly on Sunday.

Good luck to all representing Lucs this weekend, we hope to see you tomorrow.
Smithy



 

Fylde 35 – 22 Luctonians
 
Luctonians tasted National League defeat for the first time in over a month, as they went down on the road in Lancashire to 5
th placed Fylde, in an entertaining affair. The home side ran out winners, outscoring the Herefordshire men five tries to four, and showing more accuracy with the boot to seal the victory.
 
The hosts started the stronger and kept Lucs pinned in their own half for the opening exchanges. With little possession during that period it was no surprise when elusive fullback Tom Carleton opened the scoring with a searing break through the midfield on 5 minutes, Tom Gregory converting, as he would immaculately all afternoon, for a 7-0 lead.
 
Lucs would hit back though, and after home winger Henry Hadfield was yellow carded for a forearm smash, got on the board with centre Josh Watkins going over to make it 7-5, as Tom Jones could not add the extras. Restored to 15 men, Fylde then scored again, as hooker Ben Gregory dotted down at the back of a driving maul, with Smith slotting the touchline conversion on 24 minutes for a 14-5 lead. Lucs looked set to immediately hit back with points as they pressurised the Fylde line, but a spilled ball was moved sharply to the wing and an excellent counter attack saw the hosts go the length of the pitch, with centre Tom Forster finishing off the move and Smith knocking over another cracking kick from the same spot he had just succeeded from three minutes earlier.
 
Whilst Fylde looked incredibly dangerous with ball in hand, Lucs were gaining the upper hand at set piece and in the physical stakes, and following a dominant scrum and playing with advantage, winger James Wheeler got on the end of a kick through to dot down in the corner to bring the visitors back into the game, before Jones agonisingly hit the cross bar with an excellent conversion effort from the touchline. The visitors would have been in the game still at 10-21 at the break, but could not hold out and just before the half another break through the visitors midfield, saw Fylde scrum half Matt Sturgess round off another long range effort for a 10-28 scoreline at half time.
 
In an evenly contested second half, Lucs were now soaking up all that the exciting Fylde outfit could throw at them, and whilst holding the edge still in the physical contest, began to exert pressure on the hosts. When Hadfield received his marching orders for his second yellow card offence, a late tackle this time, on the hour mark, Lucs had 20 minutes to see if they could reign in the hosts.
 
The brilliant Aiden Cheshire’s score on 61 minutes gave Lucs a glimmer of hope, but the home side would extinguish that, scoring again on 71 minutes through winger Thomas Grimes, Smith rounding off his perfect day with the boot for 35-15. Before two Lucs replacements combined to secure the Herefordshire outfit a deserved 4-try bonus point, as Will Pearson’s strong carry and offload put prop Ben Murphy in next to the sticks, Jones this time adding the extras for a 35-22 final score.
 
Luctonians will rue a lack of accuracy when in the hosts 22, but ultimately should be encouraged by their ability to compete at a very tough venue to visit. They will look to get their run-in back on track with consecutive home games in the next two weeks, as two Yorkshire sides in Hull Ionians and Sheffield Tigers visit Mortimer Park this Saturday and next.




Luctonians Ladies Touch Report from Malvern Tournament

The ladies made the short journey over to Malvern Rugby club on Sunday taking along 13 players to the first round of the Midlands Ladies Touch League. With Malvern new to the league and hosting their first tournament, they pulled out all the stops for the travelling teams with music playing, free food (always a positive with our ladies) and even a marquee for if the weather turned. 6 teams took to the pitches on this glorious Sunday including two teams from Bredon; Pershore; Ledbury; Malvern and of course Lucs Ladies.
 
With 5 players making their debut, 6 U18s and only 3 in the team having played in more than 2 tournaments, Lucs Ladies put on an incredible show for what was a very inexperienced team compared to others they were playing. Coming in 5th overall and narrowly missing out on 4th place to Pershore by just one try, they should all be extremely proud of how they played and the skills they put on display.
 
Our next tournament takes place on home turf on Sunday 8th May, with our huge increase in players since the start of the year we hope to be able to put out two home teams and would love for as much support as possible from the Lucs community on the day to really spur on the ladies to victory! With the closeness of many of the scores on Sunday this season looks to be an interesting one and top spot in the league could be anyone’s for the taking.
 


Scores on the day were:
Lucs Ladies 1 V 1 Ledbury (a vast improvement on our 6-2 loss the last time we played)
Try Scorer: Sarah Lamonby
 
Lucs Ladies 0 v 7 Bredon
 
Lucs Ladies 1 V 0 Bredon 2
Try Scorer: Amelie Covill
 
Lucs Ladies 1 V 3 Malvern
Try Scorer: Ella Lewis
 
Lucs Ladies 2 V 3 Pershore
Try Scorers: Sarah Hackley and Ella Lewis
 
Team: Sarah Hackley (C); Sarah Lamonby; Kathy Milne; Izzy Rocke; Jen Tindall (Debut); Abby Whiteman (Debut); Amy Bufton (Debut); Molly Sherrard; Amelie Covill; Lucy Bentham; Elyssa Hunter; Gwen Ewing (Debut); Ella Lewis (Debut); Susan Hackley (Manager)
 
Lucs Ladies train every Tuesday 6-7.30pm, follow us on Instagram or Facebook (Luctonians Ladies Touch Rugby) or message Sarah Hackley on 07866510486 to find out more information about joining the team.



Luctonians Quoits
 
As the season for Luctonians Quoits draws to an end, it’s time to reflect on the season, over the last six months 6-12 keen players with mixed abilities established Luctonians Quoits.  This mixed sport has slowly been flourishing in the background over the season. 
 
In it’s first full season it has sustained a committed squad that continued to meetup even during the dark nights of winter.  With players gaining confidence and improving week on week the word soon got around Herefordshire there was a new team on the block.  Suddenly out of the blue a challenge from a squad that had been playing Quoits for many years sent the message “Game on at Luctonians ?. 
 
Luctonians players Kim, Bernie, Gill, Tracey, Falcon seized the opportunity and learnt a lot from the experience of our first ever game. 
 
Unfortunately the opposition forfeited the games early on as every Luctonians player knows that as part of Mortimer rules Chalk is not allowed to be used on the hands to aid throwing the Quoit as this could pose a risk to another player or spectators as the chalk dust may pose a health risk.
 
A good evening was had by all - Good Luck to Wigmore Quoits in the league.
Falcon


The content included in Lucsline does not necessarily represent the views of Luctonians Sports Club Ltd, and is the responsibility of the editor or contributors of those specific pieces.

Facebook
Facebook
Twitter
Twitter
Website
Website
Copyright © 2022 Luctonians Sports Club, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp
Copyright © 2022 Luctonians Sports Club, All rights reserved.


unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences 

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp