Unbeaten Luctonians power on at the head of Midlands 1 with sixth victory

12:15pm Thursday 25th October 2007

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Luctonians 52 pts Peterborough 15 UNBEATEN leaders Luctonians ran in seven tries to secure their sixth consecutive Midlands 1 victory on a glorious afternoon at Kingsland.

Andy Garrod and Paul Hulland each bagged a brace of tries, while full-back Jeremy Wheadon booted 17 points in a faultless display of goal-kicking.

Luctonians took full advantage of the superb ground conditions and produced a fine first-half showing to open up an insurmountable 31-3 lead at the interval.

Despite falling behind to a James Allan penalty after just three minutes, the Herefordshire side hit back immediately.

New Zealander Cameron Hewitt set up Garrod who slipped three tackles to score underneath the posts.

Wheadon landed the simple conversion and Luctonians had to wait just five minutes before they scored again.

A quick offload from Garrod sent Charlie Meredith streaking away from inside his own half. The outside-centre evaded several challenges on the right-hand touchline before cutting inside to score.

Wheadon added the two points to put Luctonians 14-3 in front after 10 minutes and a surging run from Dan Woodside nearly led to the home side's third try.

Peterborough's almost pulled a try back in the 26th minute with their best move of the opening period. Paul Humphrey dummied from the base of a scrum and surged forward after a lapse in concentration from the Luctonians' backrow. But Pete Smith abruptly halted Humphrey's advance with a try-saving tackle about 25 metres from the Luctonians line.

Wheadon extended Luctonians' advantage with a 30-metre penalty on 28 minutes before the home side went further ahead in the 36th minute.

Tim Breakwell and Meredith linked up well before Meredith's inside pass set up Smith who crossed under the posts for Luctonians' third try.

Garrod effectively put the result beyond doubt on the stoke of half time, scoring his side's fourth touchdown after a quick break from prop Jacques and a neat offload by Breakwell.

Wheadon successfully kicked both conversions and Luctonians continued to torment the Peterborough defence, scoring two further converted tries in the opening 10 minutes of the second half.

A quick burst from fly-half Brett Prior created the opening, with Garrod slipping the ball to Hulland to finish.

Hewitt burst through the visiting defence after a short pass from scrum-half Ollie Williams to score Luctonians' sixth try in the 49th minute.

Wheadon duly landed the conversion to send Luctonians into a commanding 45-3 lead and, at that stage, it looked like the flood gates might be about to open.

However, to their credit, Peterborough reorganised their defence and stemmed the tide of Luctonians' attacks.

And it was Peterborough who hit back strongly, scoring two consolation tries in the 64th and 69th minutes.

First winger Owain Pearce slipped four attempted tackles to power home from about 20 metres out and then powerhouse South African prop Nico Steenkamp burst through to touch down after good handling from James Lovett and Max Guseinov. Allan converted one of the tries to cut the deficit to 45-15.

Luctonians had the last word in the dying minutes, Hulland crashing over for his second try after a strong drive from the scrum. Wheadon made no mistake from the conversion, capping a fine individual display in which he successfully landed eight kicks from a possible eight.

Luctonians team manager David James was upbeat at the final whistle after watching his side comfortably record their sixth straight league win.

"I thought it was a good team display today, with Wheadon deadly accurate with his kicking," he said.

"Peterborough came back into the game towards the end after we made a few tactical changes. But we must be pleased with the win. At Christmas last year, we only had six points on the board. We now have 12 points and are sitting proudly at the top of the league."