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1st TEAM   Match Report

Saturday 1st September 2007

County Bowl - Quarter Final

LEIC FOREST 1st : 26pts    V   LUTTERWORTH  1st : 13pts 

This, the first competitive game of the season was inevitably somewhat of a curate’s egg. There were good parts from which the Lutterworth Coaches could take succour but it was the bad parts that allowed local and league rivals Leicester Forest to go forward into the semi finals. 

Lutterworth’s squad of nineteen was bursting with talent and this season’s new signings of Dave Stannard, Dan Ford and Steve Dillow showed great promise. Stannard in particular was pivotal at number eight and earned the referee’s compliments as Lutterworth’s man of the match.  Fly half, Jim Croucher captained the side for the first time exhibiting some formerly well hidden leadership skills, ruling over a very welcome and well disciplined eighty minutes. 

Although talented, very hard working and committed; it was an unbalanced side due to the unavailability of a number of key positional players, resulting in many having to play in unaccustomed roles. Hopefully next week, for the opening league game, key players who missed this game due to injury, family commitments and in one case a petty and petulant case of poor discipline will return and restore much needed balance to the side.

Lutterworth started well, from the kick off; Forest conceded a penalty converted with ease by Andy Burgess. Forest soon came back strongly, their full back in particular was instrumental, gratefully accepting the space left in the visitor’s midfield and running in what must be said from Lutterworth’s point of view were two soft tries. Going forward, Lutterworth looked more promising and an incisive run by young Dan Ford set up winger Tom Carter who sidestepped in for the visitor’s first try. Towards the end of the half Lutterworth took the narrowest of leads when Ben Stretton went over after some fine handling by Burgess and Ford.

Lutterworth failed to add to their score in the second period but somehow quite bizarrely played better than in the first half. The scrum in particular was awesome based on the quite literally immovable front row pillars of Wilford, Dillow and Stevens. Early in the half Lutterworth defended their own twenty two stoically but eventually conceded after a relentless ten minutes of Forest pressure. A complete defensive cock up allowed Forest to score a break away try and gain a lead of thirteen points. With seven or eight minutes to go Lutterworth threw away the opportunity to get back into the game when they somehow failed to score from the back of an unstoppable ten metre scrum that was motoring over Forest’s line. This final episode seemed to sum up Lutterworth’s  day.

Next Saturday old rivals Leighton Buzzard return to Ashby Lane for the opening league fixture, kick off 3.00pm.  

Scoring:  0-3, 5-3, 12-3, 12-8. 12-13

               19-13, 26-13.

Team:                     Wilford   Renshaw   Stevens

                                         Evans  I.Johnson

                                 Conway Donovan Stannard

                                             Bell   Croucher                      

                          Carter  Daffern  Burgess  Stretton 

                                                  Ford

Reps:       Dillow  Court  Williams  Newman