Date – 28th September 2024
League – National 2 West
Devonport Services RFC vs Luctonians RFC
Final Score – Devonport Services RFC 21 – 39 Luctonians RFC … FT
Man of the Match – Ben Link
League Table – https://www.ncarugby.com/national-2-west-table/
Luctonians made it four wins from four to start their National League 2 West campaign, with a 21-39 victory over Devonport Services down in Plymouth, despite putting in a fairly lacklustre performance by their own standards.
The Herefordshire men started very sluggishly on a beautiful afternoon in Devon, and were 5-0 down after six minutes as hooker Aiden Taylor was at the back of a lineout catch and drive that ripped through the Lucs defence.
Fly half Richard West could not add the extras but the hosts had shown their intent to play and fully deserved their lead.
Lucs hit back on thirteen minutes, in identical fashion to Devonport’s score, with their first foray into opposition territory number eight Jack Goodwin dotted down at the back of a driving maul and with Jamin Hodgkins missing the conversion from out wide the scores were tied.
A really scrappy period of rugby for both sides followed, before Devonport were able to setup a position in the Lucs 22 and came away with a penalty from West, for an 8-5 lead after an onslaught on the visitors line that probably deserved a better return than three points.
After Lucs tied things up on 34 minutes with a Hodgkins penalty, they then took the lead for the first time, with their driving maul again proving fruitful, as flanker Caleb Montgomery scored this time. Hodgkins knocked over the tricky conversion and Lucs held a somewhat fortuitous 8-15 lead at the break.
Devonport closed the scores to four points after two minutes of the second period, with a penalty from West, after an awful kick off chase from the visitors.
But Lucs would extend that lead almost immediately in response, as some individual brilliance from openside flanker James Mear saw him burst through two tackles, before running through the full back to score in the left hand corner. Hodgkins again with an excellent conversion gave Lucs an 11-22 lead.
And Lucs appeared to have locked the game up with the bonus-point try on 52 minutes, as Goodwin powerfully burst through for his second off the back of a lineout, before carrying a couple of defenders over the line with him as he scored under the posts.
With Hodgkins converting for 11-29 the game looked all but done as a contest, but the Devonshire side had other thoughts and 10 points from man of the match Richard West put things back in the balance.
First, West scored a try in the left hand corner at the back of another driving maul, which he duly converted for 18-29, before he slotted a penalty to tighten the scores to 21-29 on 64 minutes, as Lucs winger Charlie Grimes would go to the sin-bin after a string of penalties from the visitors.
With a narrowed eight point lead and a man down, the game was once more in the balance when Lucs finally showed their class, and a quick tap penalty from replacement scrum half Owen Randell was fed to James Mear for him to burrow over, to ensure the tries were just kept in the back-row this week for the visitors.
Hodgkins would knock over the conversion and a further penalty on 75 minutes to see Lucs eventually record a comfortable 21-39 win on the scoreboard.
Luctonians will be glad to have got that long-journey out the way and to have secured maximum points, which edged them up to 2nd place in the early league standings, but they will know their performance levels must raise significantly in the coming weeks if they are to compete with the stronger sides in this division.
Devonport Services remain rooted to the bottom of the division after the defeat, but should take some encouragement, particularly from their offloading attacking game, which proved very difficult to stop throughout the contest.
The black and whites are back in action this coming weekend as they welcome Macclesfield to Mortimer Park.
