Another tough day for Luton

Luton were on the road again this Saturday (19th September) and once again were facing a newly demoted team, this time Amersham & Chiltern. Amersham were 4th in the table after a win and a narrow 1 point loss in the first two games of the season. Luton were looking to bounce back from their own 1 point loss at home to Chelmsford last week.

My first visit to Amersham's club and I was impressed by the facilities, the fine pitches and the friendly welcome. A bright sunny day promised a running game, ideal for the backs. Luton continue to suffer from a deep injury list, notably in the front row, so the scrum was, once again, a problem area.

In the first half, Luton looked dangerous going forward with ball in hand, but could not convert this into points. Amersham had three good attacks in the first half and came away with two converted tries, notably one in the second minute of the match. In contrast, Luton's three promising attacks yielded no reward as the last pass failed to come off, or great defence snuffed out the threat. Luton's only points came right on half time as Hobbs landed the penalty as Amersham's Number 8 went to the bin for foul play. 14-3 at half time.

The second half started in similar fashion as Amersham scored an unconverted try in the first minute after the resumption. A yellow card to Mahendran in the 4th minute (not retreating 10m) did not help the cause and Amersham secured the bonus point with the fourth try while Luton were down to 14 men. An ankle injury to Gabbidon saw Davey take the pitch; five minutes later he, too, was off with a knee injury. Luton's front row injury list continues to grow. A reshuffle in the pack was Allen move into the row so that Luton were not forced into uncontested scrums again.

Amersham scored two more tries (one converted) before an outbreak of hand bags saw the Amersham outside centre go to the bin for a punch to Jahn in front of the referee, after everything had been calmed down. As this was the 33rd minute, he played no further part in proceedings. Luton finally got some reward with a cracking try from Weston two minutes later, converted by Hobbs. Amersham wrapped up the scoring with a drop goal in the penultimate minute of the match. 41-10 the final score.

A heavy defeat, but some positives can be taken from this game. Luton always looked dangerous with ball in hand and were unfortunate not to get more for their efforts; on fine margins games are turned. Despite the margin, Luton's players worked hard all day and did not let their heads drop at any point. The return of injured players is to be looked forward to.

Next week we look forward to the visit of Ruislip. This should be an intriguing contest as Ruislip secured their first win of the season at home to Chingford on Saturday.

Man of the Match: Tomo.

Team: Robbie Povey, Cas Abaka, Saope Soko, Ryan Doyle, Chris Davies, Rick Hobbs, Tom Mahendran, Stuart Tompkinson, Wayne Hempson, Alex Gabbidon, Jamie Trivino, Jon Kerr, Gary Jahn, Michael Weston, Steve Allen
Replacements: Andy Davey, Aaron Knox, Paul Carter