SKIPPER Stuart Bemand was the Luctonians hero as the Herefordshire club retained the North Midlands Cup with a last-gasp 10-9 victory over Midlands One rivals Dudley Kingswinford at Stourbridge.

Hooker Bemand, the brother of Leicester scrum-half Scott, was driven over for an unconverted try from a line-out with the last attack of the game which sealed Luctonians' place in next season's Powergen National Trophy.

DK had repelled two previous line-out drives but they could not hold out a third time and Bemand emerged from under a pile of bodies with the ball to start Luctonians' celebrations.

They scored the only tries of a tense and well-contested final with young scrum-half Ollie Williams crossing early in the first-half.

But DK were resilient opponents and they gnawed away at the lead through Simon Fletcher.

The fly-half landed one first-half penalty and two in the second period which gave DK the lead.

Control

Luctonians, who paid the penalty for trying to play too much rugby in their own half, regained control by kicking to the corners and putting DK under pressure from which Bemand scored the winner.

Meanwhile, Kidderminster Carolians won the North Midlands Shield for the first time by defeating Old Yardleians, winners two years ago, 24-18 at Stourbridge.

Centre Tom Scandrett, fly-half Tom Oakes and prop Ben Turner, the captain, scored Kidderminster's tries.

Old Yardleians responded with tries from winger Dave Ward, prop Pete Butler and number eight Ben Honey. Scrum-half Elliott Honey kicked a penalty.

Kings Norton became the first winners of the North Midlands Vase by beating Oswestry 15-10 in the inaugural final.

Ken Whitehouse and full-back John Hefford scored Kings Norton's tries. Whitehouse added a penalty and conversion.

And Worcester won the North Midlands Colts Cup following a 25-6 victory over Dudley Kingswinford at Droitwich.

The game was effectively decided by half-time when Worcester held a 22-0 lead, but DK rallied in the second period.

The try-scorers for Worcester were Jon Hines, Sean Walker, Will Warden and Ben Barclay. Matt Williams chipped in with a penalty and a conversion.

Bromsgrove won the North Midlands Colts Plate with a 14-12 victory over Luctonians.