Jamin Hodgkins and his Luctonians Rugby teammates continued their winning ways with an excellent all-round performance against a spirited Macclesfield side in front of another vocal crowd at Mortimer Park winning 59 - 5.
Luctonians were superb throughout, no more so than in defense when Macclesfield were in their red zone, and they repelled their advances on more than one occasion. And when they turned on the afterburners, they ran riot scoring 9 tries with Macc managing just the one as consolation.
The home side were playing in orange shirts as part of their excellent ‘Luctonians in Orange’ Charity Day, when the players' shirts would be auctioned off following the game.
Luctonians were on the scoreboard as early as the 2nd minute, when Lewis Parkes collected a deft James Mear dink-kick to touch down. Hodgkins kicked the extras as he collated another 17-point haul, all from the tee in what was another kicking masterclass.
Hodgkins increased Luctonians’ lead to 10-0 when he added a penalty on 8 minutes, before Conor Geraghty stole through to score, when put through by Joe White and Owien Harriott-Davis, to give the home side a 17-0 advantage.
Macclesfield gamely challenged but failed to gain any meaningful ground, throwing bodies into the Luctonians back line. But the home side were resolute and turned defense into attack when the marauding Owien Harriott-Davis, who was superb throughout, crashed through the Macc defense on 35 minutes to give them a 24-0 lead at oranges, with Hodgkins converting. This after Oliver Longmore for Macclesfield had seen yellow for foul play.
Luctonians turned on the style straight away after half time when Man of the Match Caleb Montgomery was over the whitewash, following a loose line out throw from Macc within a minute of the re-start, to increase the lead to 31-0; Hodgkins again immaculate from the tee.
James Mear went over on 46 minutes, following Owen Randell’s awareness to spot a hole in the Macc defense, and Montgomery and Harriott-Davis combined to put Lewis Parkes away again on 51 minutes, for his second score of the game; Hodgkins converting for the home side to lead 45-0. But he spoiled his copybook performance soon after when he saw yellow for a high tackle.
Despite being down to 14, Luctonians continued to impress, and the explosive Owen Randell somehow wriggled his way over the line before taking on the kicking duties to nail the extras to lead 52-0. This was following Macclesfield’s only contribution to the score when George Boughey somehow found a way over just after the hour for their sole 5 points.
Luctonians wound up the last 10 minutes in full control, as they had been for most of the game, composed and showing at times some excellent handling, not least with their final try from Caleb Montgomery at the death. But this was after Jack Goodwin had also contributed with his touch down a few minutes earlier, converted by Randell to make it 59-5. Montgomery’s try was superb as it involved Luctonians moving the ball at pace, and with superb handling, across their back line to end what had been an excellent team performance.
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