Luctonians 0 pts South Leicester 8.

LUCTONIANS remain top of Midlands 1 after a shock home defeat against South Leicester at Mortimer Park.

The north Herefordshire side failed to score a point and were desperately missing the leadership of virus-hit captain Chris Jaques.

South Leicester kicked off with a slight wind at their backs and they enjoyed the early territory.

The visitors had an early opportunity to open their account but fly-half Mark Lord missed a shot at goal.

Luctonians almost scored when a break from full-back Charlie Meredith was carried on by Leon Mells who was pulled down short of the visitors’ line.

South Leicester were penalised as they piled in to clear their line but Luctonians were, themselves, penalised for shirt pulling at the resultant line-out.

The visitors scored the only try of the match just before the interval when centre Keiran Collins touched down.

Lord missed the conversion but made amends with a penalty on the half-time whistle to put South Leicester 8-0 in front.

Luctonians declined a couple of kickable penalties and chose to continue the line-out catch-and-drives that had been unsuccessful in the first half.

The game continued to stutter along until the referee brought Luctonians’ miserable afternoon to an end.

Luctonians are still the league leaders but only one point separates them from second-placed Broadstreet who have a game in hand.

Should Luctonians regain their form, Broadstreet’s visit to Mortimer Park on February 14 could be the match which decides this season’s league title.