Preston Grasshopper’s coaching staff, players and not least their faithful supporters, will all have had a great boost of confidence after last Saturday’s resounding victory over third in the table Leicester Lions.
Everyone will be hoping that the form showed in that game can be built on and taken forward for the remainder of the season and that Hoppers will still be playing their rugby in National 2 North next season.
Our visitors this week have slowly slid down the table after their narrow victory over Hoppers at Mortimer Park earlier in the season. They are currently sitting just one place above the relegation positions and eleven points ahead of ourselves. Since Hoppers visited Luctonians back in early November, our visitors have won just twice out of twelve attempts.
Hoppers and Luctonians have faced each other six times at Lightfoot Green with the home side winning two thirds of these encounters. Hoppers three victories in the early fixtures were by very comprehensive margins, something everyone at Hoppers hope can be repeated this Saturday.
Having moved through the Midland’s Leagues, Luctonians are currently playing their seventh season at this level.
The full record of meetings between the two clubs shows that results couldn’t be any closer with both sides having won on six occasions, plus one drawn fixture at Mortimer Park.
Words by Mike Forshaw, photo by Mike Craig.
