Lutterworth 14 Bournville 15
Bournville dug deep to claim a hard-earned victory in atrocious conditions on their first visit to Ashby Lane.
Driving rain, a heavy pitch and a strong upfield wind were conditions in which Bourns have often come unstuck on the road in the recent past but here they showed tremendous character and discipline to make it a second successive away win.
It also ended Lutterworth’s 14-match unbeaten home league record with Bourns becoming the first visiting side to win at Ashby Lane since Nuneaton in March 2024.
It was hard work against a committed Lutterworth side who know how to play on their sloping pitch but tries from Nathan Decalmer in the first-half and Jacob Fewtrell 14 minutes from time secured the four points.
Bournville had the wind in their favour in the first-half and although they enjoyed long periods of pressure they turned around only 10-0 up with Fewtrell landing a third minute penalty and converting Decalmer’s 15th minute try after Adam Shaw broke down the left from a scrum on Bourns’ 22 before unleashing the left wing.
Forward pressure should have brought two more tries but Lutterworth held on determinedly and Bournville had plenty of work still to do in the second-half into the wind, but with the slope in their favour.
The lead was reduced to three points when Lutterworth shunted Bourns back 22 yards from a lineout drive for a converted try and followed it up with a well-taken counter-attack try on 54 minutes which was also converted.
But Bournville manned the barricades in defence after that to deny Lutterworth another score – they did have a try disallowed for obstruction in another driving maul – and retained possession to test the Leicestershire side in defence.
Even when Bourns went down to 14 men when Chris Idehen was sin-binned for an offence at the breakdown, they kept their shape and focus and scored the decisive try from a sustained and patient attack and finished by Fewtrell in the corner, when they were a man down.
With conditions making free-flowing rugby almost impossible, Bournville adopted a pragmatic approach and did so successfully to deny Lutterworth possession for much of the last ten minutes with props Scott Rudge and Danny Griffin and hooker Jamie Harding proving effective ball carriers.
They also showed excellent discipline in not conceding penalties in the close-quarters action with a combative Lutterworth pack meant their hosts had no opportunity to snatch victory at the death as Bromsgrove did earlier in the season.
Head Coach Alex Grove led from the front with an excellent all-round display on his seasonal debut but it was his centre partner, Josh Bloomfield, who shone in the murky conditions, with some penetrative running and excellent work in defence.
Fewtrell and scrum-half Reiss Price relieved the pressure with some clever tactical kicking which showed that Bournville are more than a fair weather, firm surface team and can adapt to less favourable conditions.
*Bournville Blues got back to winning ways with a 52-0 victory over Upton on Severn at Avery Fields in Counties Two Midlands West (East).
There were seven tries with scrum-half Adam Collingwood leading the way with a brace. Wings Craig Manning and Stephen Terera, prop Kieran McGuire, hooker Ben Harper and replacement Jack Mitchell also crossed the line in the Blues’ second win of the season.
Fly-half and captain Alex Warner converted all seven tries and also landed a penalty in a personal haul of 17 points.
