LUCTONIANS' baptism in Midlands One could not have gone better after a superb 43-6 victory over Camp Hill put them top of the table.

The Herefordshire club, who were promoted last season with Malvern, swept aside the challenge of the perennial strugglers with a performance which bodes well for the season ahead.

Skipper Will Crawforth put them on their way with a try in the opening 10 minutes and Roger Chilman began a productive afternoon with the conversion. The visitors threatened to spoil the party soon after with two Ian Chetland penalties but Lucs soon wrestled back the initiative with a double try burst from an unlikely source.

Prop Ben McGowan bagged two tries before half-time following two forward drives, one converted, to leave Lucs 19-6 ahead at the interval. The home side, buoyed on by a good turnout, went further in front after a great individual try from winger James Owen before Chilman slotted the extra points.

Debutant hooker Stuart Bemand then got on the scoresheet with a nicely worked try on the same day his brother Scott was on the mark for Harlequins against Bristol in the Zurich Premiership. Aussie fly-half Anton Pilli converted before he got in on the try-scoring action with a quick double to end a great day for the Mortimer Park club.

It was not, however, such a good day for the other Midlands One club in the county as Hereford went down 34-8 to Longton at Wyeside while new boys Malvern suffered a 41-7 defeat at promoted Dunstablians. The scoreline, however, was a little misleading after the visitors had battled to a 7-0 lead up until first half injury time. Paul Jenkin put Malvern in front on eight minutes with a jinking run before Mark Moaby converted.

The home side, who won the Eastern division averaging around 50 points a game last season, drew level just before the interval. They went in front midway through the second half but it was three converted tries in the final five minutes which put a rather different complexion on the game as a whole. "If we didn't know it before, we certainly know it now - this season will be a whole different ball game to last year," said Malvern's director of rugby Dave Robins.

In Midlands Two West, Bromsgrove began their quest for the title in fine style with a 34-12 victory over Burton.

Meanwhile, Droitwich went down 29-6 to Silhillians in a pre-season friendly. Matt Blackmore kicked two penalties in the home defeat.