A HEREFORDSHIRE derby saw the top two sides in the  Counties 1 Midlands West (South) League go head-to-head.

Luctonians seconds have already won the title with and hoped to cement their position at home to second placed Ledbury.

Conditions were breezy and the pitch heavy and it was the home side who dominated the early exchanges.

On 25 minutes, Ledbury made their first real foray into the Luctonians half, allowing the forwards to maul their way close to the Luctonians line, until Tom Assal muscled his way over for a try, converted by Iolo Bubb (0-7).

There was some inspiring ball carrying from Lewis Ballinger, Ed Bennion, Tom Assal and Jock Welch, but Ledbury were unable to increase the lead.

Ledbury’s experienced front row of Welch, Gummer and Almond were winning the battle up front at scrum time and Luctonians began conceding a succession of penalties, allowing Bubb to slot over a penalty from nearly 40 metres out to take a 10-point lead.

But Lucs hit back, and on 37 minutes they scored a flowing backs move through Morris Clementson, with Tyler Morris knocking over the conversion from the touchline, to make the score 7-10 at the half.

A strong start to the second half by the hosts saw them apply most of the pressure, and after a chip over and collect from Morris, he offloaded to Jack Prescott, who went over under the posts for what would turnout to be the key score.

Morris converted for 14-10 and that would be the scoring for the game. 

Ledbury stifled any further attack with the likes of Johnny Whitting shutting down any chinks in the armour.

With 35 minutes to go, there was plenty of time for Ledbury to regain the lead and again Ledbury were winning the forward battle prompting another penalty but the stiff, unreadable breeze thwarted Iolo Bubb in adding the three.

A succession of penalties saw Ledbury opt to kick to the corner, but the Luctonians defence was up the mark and kept the visitors out.

Luctonians however were unable to exert any significant pressure on Ledbury for the remainder of the half and it was only their discipline that kept Ledbury out.

Ledbury face Droitwich at home on April 6, also a VP lunch date, when they intend to cement their second place position and justify potential promotion which will be decided by the RFU competitions panel on the same day.

Meanwhile, title winners Luctonians seconds conclude their campaign with a trip to Manor Park.

In the Regional 2 Midlands, Hereford will finish their campaign with a trip to Malvern.

There are still three matches remaining in National 2 West and Luctonians host Hornets on Saturday.