Rugby Union
Injuries take their toll on Bromsgrove

Buy photos » Bromsgrove's Steve Blackburn powers forward at Luctonians. Picture by Peter Jepson.

DEPLETED Bromsgrove were beaten 17-5 at Luctonians on Saturday as a successful 2011 ended on a disappointing note.

With several key players missing, including skipper Tom Warren, it was always going to be a big ask for Bromsgrove and their cause was not helped by suffering further injuries on the day.

Despite returning with no points, Bromsgrove can take some pleasure from keeping the score close despite being under pressure for the majority of the contest and suffering a couple of strange decisions from the officials.

The first of these led to the opening try which came from an interception seconds after Bromsgrove had been given an advantage from a Luctonians knock on.

For some reason the referee decided not to bring play back but allowed winger Charles Meredith to score by the posts, Will Burton converted.

Most of the play seemed to be confined to the middle of the park with the hosts having the majority of possession but they were unable to use it particularly.

They did eventually get reward for their possession when poor Bromsgrove tackling allowed Will Hodnett to score.

The visitors hit back and went on to have their best passage of play which culminated with Nigel Burrows scoring from a catch and drive to cut the gap to 12-5 at half time.

Most of the pressure in the second half came from the hosts, egged on by a big crowd, but they found Bromsgrove difficult to break down.

Their cause was helped when Burrows received a yellow card for a technical offence and almost immediately used the man advantage to put Burton over for the score.

Town had a few opportunities late on but without their regular kickers and playmakers were unable to take advantage.