With the ground unlikely to offer much by way of a bounce Lucs’ kicker drove his kickoff along the floor, Ryan gathering to hoof back downfield. A uncharacteristic lapse in the Saxons’ defensive line let the hardworking Lucs no.8 through, he reached the Saxons 22 before the cover pulled him down. Ben Hughes put a big tackle on the Lucs 9, the collision forcing him up in the air and looking at risk of coming down headfirst but Ben did well to hang on to him to ensure he landed on arm and knee in quick succession. Referee Andrew Rawson’s whistle produced a shrill blast but wisely he took a few seconds to gather his thoughts before issuing just a penalty.

Lucs declined the 3 point option and kicked for the corner, they tried to drive a maul which produced another penalty for in at the side. They tapped and ran but were held out for several drives before James Rodley got a big dose of Herefordshire shoe pie and was penalised to boot (no pun intended) for not rolling away quickly enough. Lucs ran it again but the Saxons defensive line held firm and they had to settle for a scrum following an unplayable. A further defensive penalty came for offside when a speculative drop goal attempt failed to obtain an advantage, Lucs again opted to scrum which drew yet another penalty for Stewart Pearl standing up as the pressure came on. Unsurprisingly captain Hughes got a lecture about the penalty count before Lucs again tapped and ran but spilt it in contact enabling Jarvis to find touch. Lucs weren’t finished though and fed it to the backline where despite a big Tu’ipolotu tackle another Saxons’ offside penalty drew a rather generous final warning. Lucs shot themselves in the foot by missing the kick at goal though and the Saxons were finally able to compose themselves and kick the 22 dropout long.

Lucs ran the kick return but knocked on, enabling the Saxons’ forwards to launch some short drives following which Ryan put up a Garryowen and a good chase generated a penalty for not releasing in the tackle. But an overthrown lineout turned it back over and Lucs’ 10 sent down a high kick of his own. The chase wasn’t as good and Jamie Hearn managed to break through and hared off as far as the Lucs 22 before his sidestep failed to work in the mud and he had to offload to Jarvis. Lucs’ defenders were penalised for not releasing and Ryan stepped up to kick the penalty goal from 10m inside the left touchline. 16min 0-3.

Lucs next kick into the Saxons 22 hit the cornerflag and went into touch-in-goal, but Ryan’s dropout went out on the full and the Saxons were back under pressure. They forced a Lucs’ backs move into touch though from which a series of infield kicks were exchanged. Lucs’ fullback lost it in contact and Robbie Hurrell countered right with ball in hand, finding Tu’ipolotu then Jarvis in support but the move stalled when an offside Lucs player intercepted the ball just outside his own 22. Ryan fancied the kick again and slotted it. 22min, 0-6.

With the pitch starting to cut up the sides started to become indistinguishable in the mud, and the game became a territorial kicking contest in the stiffening breeze. The Saxons got largely the better of this as Lucs either overcooked their kicks into the in goal or failed to put sufficient pressure on the catcher, which was frequently one of the Saxons halfbacks who dropped back in anticipation. By contrast the Saxons’ kicks were high and held up into the breeze, enabling runners to get under them and pressurise the catcher. On the ground the Saxons twice got into positions to start pressurising Lucs in their own 22 but uncharacteristic knock-ons killed the moves. Lucs countered but were twice stripped of possession as they started to advance into Saxons territory. All in all a muddy midfield stalemate that ended with halftime, the Saxons securing a lineout and Ryan relieved to see a horribly sliced kick drift backwards into touch. 40min, 0-6.

Both sides changed jerseys, the hosts reappearing in gold and the Saxons in their home navy & white strip. The half was barely a minute old when Alex Davidson got penalised for pulling Robbie Hurrell’s hair in a maul. The Saxons kicked for touch and attacked the Lucs’ line, a string of drives held up and a scrum awarded for an unplayable. Unable to drive this the Saxons moved it and came within an ace of scoring when Hughes worked his way through a half-gap but couldn’t hold the pass. Lucs cleared but from the lineout Roy-Smith spotted a gap in the Lucs’ backfield and stuck a chip into the in goal. Tom Jarvis and the Lucs fullback raced neck and neck to ground it and with no obvious winner the AR indicated a knock-on by Jarv.

Lucs were opting to run out of the 22 rather than kick into the stiffening breeze, but the Saxons contained them by kicking back into the corners of their 22. A Nathan Bressington chase created a gilt-edged opportunity with an attacking 5m lineout then scrum. The pack drove and found their opponents falling away walking the scrum left but Mr Rawson was happy with it, Lucs pounced on untidy ball at the base and the opportunity was gone.

The Saxons kept Lucs pinned in their 22 but were unable to finish off their attacks, most often due to dropped passes or tackle penalties. Eventually Ryan found touch in the Lucs’ 22 and Edgy replaced James Rodley before the lineout was played. Lucs knocked the ball on, the Saxons played advantage and kicked ahead with Lucs opting to run from deep but contained at a ruck near their 22. The ball squirted out of the side and the cleanest bloke on the pitch couldn’t believe his luck as the ball was fed to him coming up at pace to blast through the misaligned Lucs defence and score under the posts. Welcome back Edgy. Ryan converted, 67min 0-13.

From the restart the Saxons again kicked well and reached the Lucs’ 22 before the ball was moved right from a scrum where crucially it was lost in contact and booted downfield into touch. It went loose at the tail and a Lucs’ boot again hoofed it downfield where Jamie Hearn gathered but the chase got to him before he could get a kick away and he was penalised for not releasing. Lucs took a quick tap that caught the defence not 10m, and when advantage failed to materialise the AR reminded Mr Rawson about the final warning issued more than an hour back and the inevitable yellow card was shown to Tu’ipolotu. With just 5min to go Lucs sensed their opportunity had arrived and opted to scrum but couldn’t advance it, a chip through well covered by Will Harris just on for Roy-Smith. It was carried over though and Lucs secured another penalty when Dale Garner stood up in the scrum. They took a quick tap and laid siege to the Saxons’ line in the left corner, finally forcing replacement prop Mike Jones over with the AR confirming the grounding. The conversion flew wide and the final whistle sounded. Full time 5-13.

Coach Mike Umaga commented : “We came here looking for a win to get our season back on track, the boys did really well to keep their focus in difficult conditions. They threw everything at us – as we knew they would – but we were dominant in attack and our defence held strong, we delivered what we had to and it’s nice to be back on the winning trail. Scrum half Lucas Roy-Smith had an immense game and was my man of the match.”