There was a good crowd at Bournville for their Ladies Day event pre match, with the home side looking to get a result in an attempt to avoid relegation, while Lucs were hoping to build on last week’s excellent result against league leaders Camborne.
Bournville started well with early pressure and No 10 Fewtrell knocked over an early penalty after 5 minutes for 3-0 lead after side-entry at a maul.
Lucs were straight back in the game after quarter of an hour, after an Owen Randell kick was chased down by Number 8 Jack Goodwin, who powered through the onrushing defence to touch down, with Randell converting for 3-7.
Seb Robinson, who had an excellent all round game, then found himself at the bottom of a driving maul from a line out close in to add to the Lucs tally after 22minutes, with Randell’s conversion hitting the upright. And on 30 minutes it looked like Lucs would start to run away from the home side when Owien Harriot-Davis chased down a through kick, which caused the Bournville cover to drop the ball and George Bennett dotted down his first National League try for Luctonians, to see the lead out to 3-19 with Randell converting.
Fewtrell knocked over a second penalty after 33mins, and the hosts further dragged themselves into the game as they scored a push over maul of their own on the stroke of half time, following a yellow card a piece, issued to Joe White and Mcleod of Bournville for an altercation off the ball.
So 13-19 at oranges.
The Birmingham outfit started the second half with some purpose and capitalised on a Lucs handling error, which allowed wing Evans to race in to dot down, Fewtrell again accurate with the boot to give them the lead 20-19 after 44 minutes.
But it took Lucs just five minutes to reassert their dominance, when Robinson again dropped over the line from another driving maul on 49 minutes, Randell again scoring with the boot to stretch the lead out to 20-26.
Although the Herefordshire men looked fairly comfortable in defence, whilst the scoreline remained tight, the game was still alive. On 65 minutes, following an excellent touch finder from replacement Tom Jones, from resultant lineout Lucs secured the ball and an excellent cross field play allowed Rob Aikman to score to extend the lead to 20-31.
Bournville wanted a losing bonus point and pressed hard, Will Pearson eventually seeing yellow for Lucs for tackling a man without the ball, and from the resultant penalty Price wriggled over through an enormous hole in the visiting defence. Fewtrell again knocked over to bring them within four points at 27-31 with two minutes left on the clock.
Lucs defended these final phases stoutly and as the ref blew for a penalty to the black and whites on the halfway line, which appeared to signal the end of the game, the audacious scrum half Randell, took it upon his self to take a quick tap and ran the ball in 50 metres under the posts un-opposed, drop kicking the extras for good measure, to seal the result 27-38 and steal Bournville’s losing bonus point in the process.
Lucs will be pleased with the result if not the overall performance, as they made it ten league victories in a row over the Choccos and likely condemned the hosts to relegation.
