Ludlow look to bring the curtain down on their Midlands Three West (North) rugby campaign with victory at lowly Leek tomorrow – but they’ll be left to reflect on what might have been after their promotion bid fell flat.
The Linney men had been in the chase for a top two finish for much of the season, but have fallen away in the past six weeks with a couple of disappointing defeats.
They got back to winning ways in the league with a 29-10 victory over Old Saltleians last Saturday to cement fourth spot.
Sadly, the victory has come too late to ignite a promotion push with just the trip to lowly Leek tomorrow remaining.
Director of rugby Phil Norton admitted it was frustrating to be so close.
“It was a shame to have fallen out of the promotion picture, particularly as we had to play some of the lower sides in our last couple of games, but we can look to build on this for next season,” he said.
At least Ludlow could take some consolation from last weekend’s 29-10 success over Old Saltleians in their last home outing in the league.
However, the Linney men were second best in the early stages to trail 10-0 before hitting back as their visitors’ challenge faded.
“It was an odd game, Old Saltleians played really well in the first 20 minutes, they looked a good side and every time they got the ball they took it forward,” said Norton.
“But their defence was poor and once we managed to get our hands on the ball we were able to take the game to them and felt we had the beating of them.”
Old Saltleians started strongly with a penalty and a converted try giving them a 10-0 lead much to the concern of the Ludlow hosts.
But they appeared to tire as the Linney side battled back with flanker Rob Evans capping a fine display with a try after the forwards and backs had combined well.
Mark Williams supplied the conversion to add to his earlier penalty as the sides went in 10-10 at half time.
Ludlow maintained the momentum after the break to run in three more tries to emerge ultimately convincing winners.
Wing Dan Rawlings, replacement second row Marc Gaubert and fly half Williams all went over with the latter kicking two conversions to complete a 14-point tally.
