The short trip to Mortimer Park saw Stour just nudging an occasionally ill-tempered contest that saw their rollercoaster form hit a welcome upward curve.

Stour clawed back the hosts’ early lead and had secured a 16-point lead and bonus-point 4th try before the hour mark. The hosts rallied but Stour’s stubborn, hardworking defence - one constant of their season - held out until two late tries were rewarded with a couple of bonus points. With Lucs having recovered to mid-table safety after being rock-bottom at Christmas, the sides are assured to renew hostilities in National 2 North in 2016-17.

With the Stourbridge u14 squad lending plenty of volume from the stand, Lucs kicked off into a gusting breeze and launched a hi-tempo series of attacks that were rewarded when 2nd row Mike Cheasley went over early on in the corner. 4min 5-0.

Stour hit straight back from the restart, 2nd row Chris Roddy forcing a penalty when a defender failed to release in the tackle. A straightforward 3 point opportunity was declined, the ball hoofed to the corner and Stour’s pack executed a textbook catch & drive that the hosts found impossible to hold out, flanker Nigel Mukarati the man in possession as they crossed the tryline. 7min 5-5.

An offside offence at the restart allowed Stour to push play into the Lucs 22, the hosts struggled to break back out and were penalised for an obstruction but outside-half Rod Petty’s kick at goal flew wide, as did his attempted drop-goal return of the dropout. Lucs’ 2nd attempt went short and was gathered by flanker Joe Carpenter, Stour attacked and were awarded not the last penalty of the game when an AR intervened for foul play. Again the 3 point option was declined, but Lucs failed to engage Stour’s attempted catch & drive and were rewarded for an accidental offside, compounded by a subsequent foul play penalty for a late tackle.

A Stour attempt to counter nearly ended in disaster when the ball went loose in their 22. Lucs were awarded a penalty right in front of the posts, they too went to the corner but got held up. Tempers flared and another foul play call should have seen Stour old boy Dale Garner taking a 10min rest but his teammate Mike Jones took the yellow card in what looked a case of mistaken identity. Stour cleared but with minds not entirely focused on the rugby a rash of handling errors denied either side any momentum in attack. Both Chris Depper and Toby Handley were hauled down just short of the line before Stour secured an attacking scrum on the Lucs’ line from which Carpenter blasted over under the posts. 34min 5-12.

A trademark clean break by hooker Billy Harding took play from one 22 to the other, but Lucs cleared the immediate danger before attempting to run the ball in a series of attacks comfortably contained by the Stour defences. Halftime 5-12, Stour’s lead looking paper thin as they prepared to play into the wind 2nd half.

Winger Ash Elvers ripped the ball free to start Stour’s first attack of the 2nd half. Centre James Otutaha broke through the defensive line to set up a set of short-range drives, one looked held up but Elvers cleared out, picked up the ball and sauntered over the line, much to the bemusement of the Lucs defenders who had fanned out. Referee Chris Bennett checked with his AR but with no obvious law infringement the try was awarded. 43min 5-19.

Lucs hoofed a penalty to the corner and looked to deliver their own catch & drive but were held out. The ball was moved left where winger Josh Watkins just managed to work himself over the line despite the attentions of the Stour defence. 46min 10-19.

Otutaha’s straight running drew several defenders, his neat offload finding centre colleague Joe Heatley at full tilt. He blasted clean through the line and raced 40m to score Stour’s bonus-point try under the posts, leaving the wrongfooted fullback and cover defenders in his wake. 50min 10-26.

The next Stour attack saw Harding brought down just short then prop Stef Thorp bundled into touch in the corner. Elvers gathered the clearance kick and hared back upfield but a Stour attacker strayed offside in Lucs’ 22. They tapped and ran but Mr Bennett’s patience ran out and he penalised the hosts for dissent. They conceded a further penalty for taking out a Stour lineout jumper in the air and another high-speed break by Heatley was denied just short of the line. Lucs weren’t done though and worked their way doggedly downfield, recycling the ball effectively for replacement Max Hill to cross under the Stour posts. 74min 17-26.

2nd row Nick Murphy made a welcome return to the action having been sidelined with a knee injury since September. Cheasley took out another Stour lineout jumper, earning himself a sin-binning and heralding an extended renewal of acquaintances amongst the forward packs that also saw Stour replacement Adam Sturdy take an early rest. With order restored Stour fluffed a lineout and Lucs countered with a breathless extended set of phases that saw flanker Dan Smith’s try bring his side 2 bonus points. 79min 22-26.

With just seconds remaining Lucs declined the conversion and forced Stour to restart and hold on to deny a potential last-ditch reversal. Lucs persisted with throwing it around before winger Josh Trinham picked up loose ball and raced clear, but the ball had been knocked on by Stour and the game ended, fulltime 22-26.

Stour’s final encounter of 2015-16 will be at champions Macclesfield on Apr 30th.