Arscott’s aces turn up heat on Lucs
DINGS Crusaders closed the gap on table-toppers Luctonians with a hardfought win at Mortimer Park.
The Crusaders came from behind to make it 15 games unbeaten and narrow Lucs’ lead at the summit to two points.
The hosts drew first blood through Owen Randell’s penalty after 25 minutes.
But Luke Arscott’s side were not behind for long as they took the lead five minutes later.
Some quick handling saw them rip through the shell-shocked Lucs defence and the move ended up with Matt Smith passing the ball to Jimmy Halliwell to go over.
Sam Worsley added the extras to put Dings 7-3 ahead at half-time.
The Crusaders extended their lead seven minutes after the break when Oscar Lennon picked up a loose ball from Lucs’ Archie Benson and he was allowed the freedom of the whole field before going over.
However, the Black and Whites grew back into the game and would have scored through Charlie Grimes, but for a superb try-saving tackle from Worsley that kept the nine-point advantage intact.
Moments later, Luctonians did grab one back after Ben Link picked up Lennon’s poor pass to go over and spark jubilant celebrations from the loud and vocal home crowd.
But Dings had the final say when they scored the try of the match in the 68th minute.
Worsley found George Bolton and he kicked the ball into the path of Tom Hargan, who dived over in the corner to maintain Dings’ impressive run without defeat.
“If someone offered me four points before the game, I would have definitely taken it,” Arscott said.
“The ball is still in Lucs’ court. All we can do is keep the pressure on.
“We just have to look after our own results. But if they did the same we can’t catch them.
“So, we will be just looking at our next game
(against Bournville), trying to look after ourselves and play as best as we can.
“It was what you expect from a top-of-the-table clash. It was edgy, it was nervous, the pitch didn’t lend itself for great rugby.
“It was a very attritional game and two good forward packs going at it.
“Fortunately for us, we came off on the right side of the result.
“We haven’t lost since September. We have let a couple of points slip here and there and that could be the difference at the end of the day.
On the club’s impressive unbeaten run, he added: “Everyone wants to win games of rugby and to go 15 unbeaten is no small effort on the boys’ part.”
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Worsley - Dings