Date – 7th September 2024
League – National 2 West
Hinckley RFC VS Luctonians RFC
Final Score – Hinckley RFC 17 VS 27 Luctonians RFC
Man of the Match – Connor Deignan
League Table – https://www.ncarugby.com/national-2-west-table/
Luctonians started their National League 2 West campaign off with a very decent win on the road, at what is always a tough place to go, against Hinckley.
A 17-27 victory, that in the end looked quite comfortable, was not without its challenges as the visitors certainly took some time getting going.
Hinckley would score first, with a fortuitous bounce of the ball on 4 minutes, as a little grubber kick from their fly half Louis Hayley ricocheted off a number of feet before popping into the hands of centre Rory Vowles, who offloaded smartly for Matt Guilfoyle to crash over. Vowles missed the conversion but the hosts lead 5-0.
Lucs responded almost immediately and their dominant scrum which picked up numerous penalties on the afternoon, secured one in the Hinckley 22 and debutant fullback Jamin Hodgkins duly knocked over to bring the scores within two on nine minutes.
That was as good as the half got for Lucs, as repeated errors continually stunted the side from getting anything going. In what was a fairly awful half of rugby to watch for the neutral, neither side could get their lineout functioning and although Lucs had the upper hand at the scrum, could not get deep enough into Hinckley’s territory to use the weapon.
Both defences largely sniffed out the scraps both attacks were working with, and all there was to note for the remainder of the half was two long-range penalties from Vowles on 15 and 29 minutes to extend the lead to 11-3 at the break.
A completely different Luctonians side came out after the interval, as the visitors got on top in the opening stages of the half and scored two tries in nine minutes.
Firstly through flanker James Mear, who won the race to a deft little chip over from Owen Randell, and the second from lock Conor Geraghty, who buried over at the base of the posts after sustained waves of pressure. With Hodgkins adding both conversions, the Herefordshire men lead 11-17.
The hosts weren’t done, and they soon tied the scores, after back-to-back penalties for high tackles in Luctonian territory saw Vowles bring it to 17-17, with Lucs prop Dave Whiting seeing yellow for the second of these infringements.
But despite being down a man, Lucs first re-took the lead and then killed the game off with a Hodgkins penalty after an offside offence, to lead 17-20, before fellow debutant Jack Park dotted down after a kick through was spilt by the retreating Hinckley defender for 17-27 on 72 minutes.
Restored to their full complement, Lucs would see out the remainder relatively comfortably to gain just their second win at Leicester Road in 15 years and start their 2024/25 season with four points garnered on the road.
Ryan Watkins’ men will be delighted with the result to start the season but will know their performance levels need to increase significantly with another stern away test this coming weekend, as they travel to Cinderford, fresh from their relegation from the league above last season.
