A largely settled pack lineup saw Derryn Jones return at lock forward, in the backs Rod Petty squeezed into the outside half jersey with Dan Rundle retained on the left wing, Chris Easton on the right and Nathan Tilsley slotting in at fullback.

The first scrum saw Lucs’ pack in reverse gear, Stour moved the ball wide for centre Will Hollis to punch a large hole in the defences. Heatley’s chip to the corner was pursued by Rundle but he was adjudged to have knocked on before crashing over the tryline. But the ploy drew dividends shortly after when Petty’s chip over was gathered by Rundle who breezed round the cover to score under the posts. Easton converted, 10min 7-0.

Stour were enjoying the lions’ share of possession but further attacks were less successful as Lucs’ defences tightened up and handling errors crept in. A long clearance by Tilsley was fed to elusive fullback Joe Doyle who spotted a gap in the kick chase and burst clean through. Easton just managed to deflect his offload but the loose ball was hacked into the Stour in-goal where the covering Rundle just managed to win the footrace to dot it down. Emboldened, Lucs started to run the ball at Stour but found all doors shut and were forced to kick for territory. Handling errors made for stop-start play until Lucs worked scrappy scrum ball wide where centre Francis Kelly rounded his marker. Reaching the 22 he chipped ahead for Doyle who would have scored but for an adjudged off-ball push on the covering Petty.

Lucs continued to press, Doyle again worked free but brought down by the covering James Otutaha. The stretched Stour defences coughed up a penalty but scrum half Louis Silver pushed a straightforward kick at goal wide. Gifted a 2nd attempt shortly after as Lucs pressed once more he again pushed it wide, leaving the visitors no scoreboard reward for their 2nd quarter dominance of territory and possession, Stour closing out the half with a 7-0 lead.

Stour reappeared for the 2nd half and immediately looked much tighter in their attacking phases. A Lucs’ lineout was turned over and the ball worked wide where Tilsley created a half-break and offloaded to Easton whose chip over the defences was gathered by the chasing Heatley to score in the corner. 45min 12-0.

Heatley tried the chip option once too often and Silver launched a Lucs’ counterattack that Stour’s defences held but at the cost of penalties conceded in their 22. Lucs went to the corner but threw not straight and were then shunted downfield in the scrum by Stour’s newly arrived replacement prop forwards. Lucs failed to get any change from the Stour defences as they threw wave after wave into attack, Stour turning them over to grind their way downfield with a set of short drives. No.8 Ciaran Moore picked up at the base of an advancing 5m scrum to crash over, 66min 19-0. Stour’s next attack was straightened by Otutaha who broke a tackle and fed the supporting Heatley who bagged the bonus-point 4th try. 70min 26-0.

Lucs kept throwing the ball about though and worked winger Charlie Grimes clear. The cover pulled him down but the damage was done and 2nd row Piers Morell crashed over for a late consolation try. Full time 26-5.

Referee Phil Davies and his assistants can take credit for a light-touch but uncompromising approach that worked well to contain a contest that always had the potential to boil over.

Stourton Park hosts the traditional fixtures with Dudley-Kingswinford on Boxing Day Monday Dec 26th, 11am ko. Stour’s league campaign restarts with a trip to Sheffield Tigers on Jan 7th, when Stourbridge Lions will be hosting Old Saltleians.