Fylde make their longest away trip of the season on Saturday, some 150 miles, to take on Luctonians RFC and seeking their fifth win on the bounce (ko 14.15). The well appointed Mortimer Park ground is the site of a very successful multi-sports club, located in the picturesque village of Kingsland, 4 miles from Leominster in North Herefordshire.
Luctonians RFC was formed in 1948 and consisted mainly of former pupils of Lucton School, an independent school which is now a co-educational, day and boarding school in Lucton near Leominster. After a long period in the Midlands regional leagues, Lucs won promotion to the National Leagues in 2010 and they had eight seasons in N2(N) before relegation at the end of the 2017-18 season. They bounced back immediately and regained their place at level 4 in the RFU leagues for the 2019-20 campaign.
At first glance, English geography appears to have been corrupted by the National Leagues allocating Luctonians to National 2 (North) rather than N2(South). Few would believe that Herefordshire would count as being in the North. But the complexities of having to split 48 clubs scattered throughout England into two sections inevitably requires some what might be initially puzzling juxtapositions. ‘Lucs’ have to make numerous long journeys to the environs of Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Yorkshire and the North East as well as the much closer Midlands bases of Stourbridge, Bournville and Loughborough. Their longest journey is to Tynedale near the Scottish border, a round trip of 520 or so miles.
Luctonians have had a rather tough start to the 2021-22 season, with four home games and six away matches to date. They lost seven out of their first eight games, away at Hull (27-8), Tynedale (18-10), Rotherham (37-22), Sedgley Park (38-7) and at home to Loughborough Students (22-28), Wharfedale (26-32) and Chester (7-11). In the midst of these defeats, they had a meritorious 10-12 victory at Huddersfield. However, they’ve picked themselves up and won their last two matches, home to local rivals Bournville (17-11) and a fine win at Blaydon (26-38) last Saturday. They are currently in 12th place in N2N.
They will be confident that they can knock over 3rd placed Fylde on Saturday as they did in the first ever game between the clubs in November 2010, the season that saw the Lancastrians storm to the championship of National Two (North). Fylde lost just four matches during that season including a 26-19 defeat by Lucs at Mortimer Park, a huge feather in the newly promoted club’s cap. Even in the return game at the Woodlands in March 2011, and with Jason Robinson in their ranks, only a last minute try by Callum McShane took Fylde to a 34-29 victory against gritty and dangerous opponents.
The next time the two clubs met was in 2019-20 when Fylde managed a double victory, but only by the narrowest margin, 25-27, at Mortimer Park. The return at the Woodlands was on 7th March, a 48-10 win, which was more significant as the last game before the Covid-19 lockdown announced a few days later – and the Club’s last league game for 18 months until the 4th Sept 2021 at Tynedale.
Lucs’ Head Coach is Ryan Watkins and he’s built a sound squad around a durable pack and a speedy backline. Dangerous runners amongst the backs include fullbacks/wings Giles Morell and Rob Bengry, centre Ben Owen and half-backs Will Burton (ex-England Counties fly-half) and scrum-half Owen Randell.
The Lucs pack features experienced front rowers Connor Deignan, Ben Link, Ben Murphy and Joe White, former Worcester Warriors Academy lock Owien Harriott-Davis and backrow forwards Matt Hackley (who is also the 1st XV captain) and Aidan Cheshire.
Follow the progress of the game on the Twitter accounts of @fylderugby and @luctonians
Photos from the Nov 2010 game at Mortimer Park below.
