The game also featured a club league record 218th appearance for stalwart Adam Sturdy, eclipsing previous holder Jon Hall’s 216. Luctonians clawed back a couple of consolation tries as the game opened up, the Saxons occasionally guilty of not sticking to the game plan, but it was too little too late as the game and try bonus point had been secured before the half hour mark.

Gary Dipple returned from injury to take the 10 jersey, with recently-returned Oldswinford Hospital alumnus James Hill finally making his league debut at no.8 after a year abroad and a nasty ankle injury at Wharfedale in the 2012-13 pre-season. Robbie Hurrell returned to the bench where he was joined by Sione Tu’ipolotu.

The Saxons kicked off defending the North end of the ground, a light but bitterly cold breeze on their backs. Lucs failed to gather it cleanly and had to defend a lineout inside their 22, quick ball off the top worked right where first Stef Shillingford then Nile Dacres blasted through tackles, Pete White screamed at his forwards for quick ball and worked it back left where Gary Dipple spotted a mismatch and barged his way over to score with less than a minute on the clock. Jamie Hearn converted, 2min 7-0.

A scrum infringement gave Lucs fullback John Morris a penalty attempt but he pushed it to the left. Lucs pressed back into the Saxons 22 but a lineout steal by Ben Hughes allowed White to kick clear. A subsequent Saxons attacked stalled when Tom Jarvis got isolated in the tackle and was penalised for holding on, but Lucs couldn’t get their set piece to function and were turned over when James Hill mopped up a loose tap at the tail of the lineout. Lucs’ flanker Adam Clayton was penalised for breaking early from a scrum, Dipple kicked for the corner and the Saxons went for a catch & drive. The pack were held out but the ball was worked left on a switch move to centre Ben Barkley, he offloaded to flanker Eji Uzoigwe who bulldozed his way through the cover from short range. Hearn again converted, 15min 14-0.

The Saxons ran back the restart, outflanking the defence and were only denied when Uzoigwe slipped looking to wrongfoot the cover. Lucs couldn’t move it and had to kick for territory, the Saxons countering with a series of phases that culminated in a speculative White chip that went direct into touch. Lucs misfiring lineout coughed it back up again though and then they conceded a penalty at the scrum that was kicked for the corner. Lucs scrambled it clear but were unable to stop the next catch & drive attempt, Nile Dacres the man to drive over from short range. Hearn again converted, 23min 21-0.

Lucs were getting no change from the collisions with the Saxons defence and disaster struck them as the ball was spilled when they tried to run from their own half. Barkley secured the ball, Dipple set up quick front-foot possession and White spotted a yawning gap in the fringe defences, racing through to score the bonus point try that Hearn again converted. 27min 28-0.

Lucs then mounted their first significant foray into the Saxons 22, their drives forcing a couple of defensive penalties that they opted to kick for the corner. Good work by Ben Hughes disrupted one maul and the ball was spilled as Lucs tried to move it wide. Dipple hacked it through, the isolated defender failed to find touch with his kick and Hearn ran it back. It was worked to Dipple who spotted a gap and left the line defenders for dead, reaching the 22 before linking with White who found Barkley with enough space to beat the last defender. Hearn converted, 33min 35-0.

Handling errors then started to creep into the Saxons’ game as they tried to maintain the tempo by forcing passes rather than take contact and recycle. Lucs seized loose ball and drilled it deep into the Saxons 22, White’s pressurized relieving kick barely clearing the 22. A lineout infringement gave Lucs the opportunity to kick for the corner again, after failing the shunt the maul forward they worked the ball right then left where a dozing wide defence was outflanked by a cut-out pass to centre Jimmy Norris who scored a try in the corner. Halftime 25-5.

The Saxons secured the restart, probing the Lucs defences by running with ball in hand and recycling well. On the 4th phase it was moved right through the hands of Uzoigwe and Dacres putting Nathan Bressington into space out wide. After a 30m run he linked back inside to White, his pass finding Hughes in support near the Lucs 22 whose momentum took him through the 2 defenders to score. Hearn again converted, 42min 42-5.

Lucs hooker Chris Condliffe got a spell in the sinbin for throwing a punch at Uzoigwe, the Saxons kicked for the corner and sent on front row subs Mike Hill and Scott Wright. The ball went loose though as they tried to maul it forwards, Lucs kicking clear and the error compounded when White tried to chip it over the chasers, putting his teammates offside. The Saxons managed to hold out the depleted Lucs pack though and moved it back downfield, Lucs poor discipline gifting them penalties that were kicked to touch. The Saxons knocked it on though as they drove over the line, compounding the error by kicking a penalty dead after Lucs flanker Adam Clayton earned himself a yellow card for cynically killing an attack deep in Lucs’ 22.

Lucs worked it back into the Saxons 22 but were again denied when their driving maul was held up. Condliffe obviously hadn’t spent his enforced 10min rest practicing his lineout throwing, overthrowing again to enable the Saxons to counter. A scrum was awarded for an unplayable, from which it was worked left then right through the hands of Wright and Tom Jarvis to Bressington who found himself in space with a canter to the corner for a try that Jarvis was unable to convert. 53min 47-5.

A White break from a lineout reached Lucs’ 22, he shipped it to a support runner but a penalty was conceded for holding on at the tackle. Lucs’ replacement hooker fared no better with his lineout throwing though, James Hill collecting loose ball and setting up a drive that saw Nigel Mukarati sprint clear from his own 22 before being hauled down near the Lucs 10m line. The support didn’t get there quickly enough though, White slipped as he was about to play the ball and Lucs’ winger Charlie Meredith pounced, his run reaching the Saxons’ 22 from where fellow winger Drew Cheshire collected it and outpaced the Saxons cover. Outside half Tom Jones converted, 69min 47-12.

Both sides upped the pace and ran with ball in hand as the clock ran down, the Saxons getting the better of the exchanges and driving a tiring Lucs off their own scrum ball in their 22 to force penalties which they opted to scrummage. White picked up from the base of one to grab a second try, though Jarvis was unable to convert. 76min 52-12.

The restart was run back at a Lucs defence that looked out on its feet, after working it both ways through multiple pairs of hands and 8 phases it came right through the hands of Robbie Hurrell and Shillingford to give Bressington a stroll in at the corner for his 2nd try, this time Matt Farrington missing the conversion. Full time 57-12.

Coach Mike Umaga commented : ‘We demonstrated today what we can do by sticking to the game plan and putting the opposition under pressure through the tempo of our game. We’d talked about it and worked hard in training, it was nice to see it delivered on matchday and I’m pretty happy going into next week’s crunch match at Darlington. Otherwise our intensity in defence was good and I was really pleased with the performance of James Hill, a young lad who stepped into the breach for us at the last minute. My man of the match could have been any one of several forwards who all pushed themselves hard & worked well, but Eji Uzoigwe just gets the nod’.