Lucs scored first but by halftime White had slotted all 6 of his kicks at goal and Stour had raced to a 30-13 lead. Two early 2nd half tries gave Stour a 20-point cushion that they defended against waves of Lucs attacks that tested their short defences. The hosts kept finding holes wider out though and had a losing bonus point in their sights before centre Joe Heatley’s 2nd try settled matters.

There were only 2 changes in the Stour starting lineup, ex-Lions Ben Tibbetts and George Tildesley stepping up. Chris Easton dropped to the bench where he was joined by debutants Liam Munro (back row) & Ben Phillips (threequarter). Stour kicked off in warm though overcast conditions on a well-grassed playing surface that had clearly benefitted from a lot of tlc over the summer.

Lucs’ first attack saw Stour’s wide defences caught flat, a missed tackle gifting a try to winger Joe Doyle. 4min 5-0. A penalty for offside at the restart gave White his first points, he followed this up with a successful 45m effort after a tackle offence but Lucs’ goalkicker Louis Silver pulled the lead back when a teammate was tackled off the ball. 13min 8-6.

Stour’s first opportunity to run the ball found them making big inroads into Lucs’ line defences. The ball was worked back left where fullback Rod Petty’s delayed pass put winger Joe Bridger into enough space to evade the cover and score in the corner. White’s conversion was again on target. 18min 8-13.

Both sides continued to throw the ball around but with their goalkicker outgunned Lucs unsuccessfully opted to kick penalties to the corner. A drive was adjudged held-up in in-goal, Lucs failed to get a drive on in the scrum and the opportunity passed when they shipped a penalty for not releasing in the tackle. Stour drove back downfield, White’s quick tap setting up an attack in Lucs’ 22 where a penalty for a high tackle gave him another 3pts. 29min 8-16.

Heatley found space in his own half and put Tildesley through on a switch move. He was pulled down but the damage was done, the ball worked to supporting flanker Billy Harding whose sidestep gave him a clear run to the corner. White landed another touchline conversion. 32min 8-23. Lucs weren’t lying down though, again they kicked penalty awards to the corner before winger Will Hodnett outleaped Bridger to secure outside half Tom Jones’ cross-kick and score unchallenged. 36min 13-23. With halftime looming Harding collected a dropped Lucs’ pass and countered, Tildesley’s inside pass putting Heatley through. He was pulled down short but the ball came loose and the supporting Tibbetts gathered to score a try confirmed by the well-positioned assistant referee. Halftime 13-30.

Lucs were straight out of the blocks 2nd half, pulling the Stour defences left before a neat inside step by Jones put him clean through under the posts. 42min 20-30. Stour hit straight back from the restart, Silva’s clearance kick fielded by Stour no.8 Ciaran Moore who set off crossfield to find Heatley, his angled run wrongfooting the kick chase. To his right he found Tildesley who accelerated onto the pass and blasted round the cover defenders. 45min 20-37, bonus point secured.

Heatley was on fire, with first phase ball worked to him he turned on the afterburners and scorched round a Lucs defensive line struggling to identify the point of attack. The cover failed to deal with his kick ahead and with the ball bouncing loose he pounced to score. 47min 20-44 and the home supporters very quiet again.

Another Lucs drive over the Stour tryline was adjudged held up, but they set siege and were rewarded when replacement winger Charlie Grimes was worked clear to score their bonus point try in the corner. 54min 25-44. With the bench subs on handling errors started to creep in and the game lost some shape and tempo, Stour’s defences containing Lucs’ attacks until a worked loop move saw Doyle come in to the line to create an overlap & 2nd try for Hodnett. 75min 32-44.

Stour’s pack had gained the upper hand and drove Lucs off their own scrum feed near halfway. Moore picked up and broke through the first up tackles, his pass finding Heatley who crossed wide left to score his 2nd try. 78min 32-49. White finally missed a kick at goal, undeterred he lined up a penalty attempt of over 50m at the death, but it fell just short.