Luctonians 21 Birmingham & Soilihull 39

LUCTONIANS suffered a damaging National Two North home defeat which allowed them to be leap-frogged by their rivals.

After a promising start, Luctonians produced an error-laden performance which leaves them fourth from bottom in the table, uncomfortably close to the relegation places.

An early try by Alex Rumsey, converted by Geraint Langdon, gave the Mortimer Park club a great start.

But Birmingham hit back with tries from David Evans and Aquile Smith, the latter converted by Adam Canning.

Two visiting players, James Oliver and Adam Smith, were yellow-carded in the lead-up to half-time.

But Luctonians failed to profit and fell further behind at the start of the second period when a series of mistakes let in Steve Johns for a try.

The Luctonians flame flickered back to life briefly with tries from Rumsey and Jimmy Norris, both converted by Langdon.

But having got back to within a single point, Luctonians lapsed back into their previous bad habits with Rodney Petty and Johns going over for decisive scores.

In the closing stages, a successful penalty by Canning took his individual tally to 11 points and underlined the visitors' win.