Midlands 2 East (S): Pinley 0 – 76 Luton

The Bedfordshire side will now face the runner up of the Midlands 2 East (North) division in a play-off for promotion.

The opponent for the fixture, that will take place on May 5th at Newlands Road, will likely to be Matlock, as they lead Coalville by nine points with two games to go.

Luton’s tries came from Jake Hobbs, Tom Garner, Matt Yang, Luke Spellen, Chris Davies, Tom Mahendren and Don Govere, who all got a score each, while Jordan Davies got a brace and Martin O’Grady enjoyed a hat-trick of tries.

It was Pinley who could have opened the scoring as they were awarded penalty 10 metres into the visitors’ half, but their fly half couldn’t guide his penalty between the posts.

At the other end, Rik Hobbs kicked a penalty into touch five metres from the line, the throw in resulted in a maul and hooker Garner broke away from the back to fall over the whitewash and score. Hobbs couldn’t add the extras from the conversion.

Luton capitalised on a Pinley error to score their second try of the match, Mahendren gathered the ball from a loose line out from the home side before going on a great run and offloading the ball to Yang metres from the line, the latter crashed over next to the posts. Hobbs converted the simple kick to make it 12-0.

The visitors third try came right at the very end of the first half, centre Hobbs broke through the Pinley line just inside his own half and gained a lot of ground before opting for a pass outside to O’Grady, as a tackler was oncoming, and the winger went on to put the ball down in the corner. Fly half Hobbs’ kick sailed brilliantly between the posts from distance to make it 19-0 at the break.

It took Luton a while to get going in the second half but once they got started Pinley couldn’t stop them, the first try came as Luton played good, quick passes along the back row and full back Davies found O’Grady free on the wing, 22 metres out, and he used his pace to touch down for the second time. This time it was David Hamm who converted well.

Pinley’s restart failed to make it 10 metres and Oti Pifeleti passed it out to Mahendren from the scrum, the scrum half picked out Davies and the full back broke through the homside’s line on the half way to leave him with a free run to the try area and put the ball down under posts. Hamm added a simple drop goal.

Luton scored again within less than a minute as Govere received the ball deep inside his own half before going on a fantastic run, over 80 metres, holding off five tackles to score one of the tries of the season. Hamm made it 40-0 with another drop kick.

The visitors next try came again within 60 seconds of the restart, this time Hamm went on a brilliant run from inside his own 22, but he was brought down by a last ditch tap tackle from the full back, however the fly half was able to offload to Spellen and he went on to score. Hamm’s drop kick made it 47-0.

Pinley tried to get a try of their own and lessen the humiliation as they attacked deep in Luton’s half but nothing the home side tried could break down Luton’s fantastic defensive wall, the visitors turned the ball over and Mahendren cleared.

As the match came to end Luton went on another scoring spree, Mahendren starting it off, as Pifeleti broke away from the back of a scrum five metres out and played a nice backhanded offload to the scrum half who scored easily. This time Hamm had to use a tee, but he failed to convert from a slight angle on the 22.

Full back Davies increased the margin less than a minute later, as he received the ball inside his own 22 and step-stepped a couple of players to find himself in space, his opposite number couldn’t catch him to stop him from scoring. Hamm was left with a similar conversion attempt as the previous one, and again he couldn’t slot the ball between the uprights.

O’Grady then rounded off his hat trick a couple of minutes later as centre Hobbs passed it inside to him on the 22 and nobody was there to stop him touching down next to the posts. Forward Pifeleti screwed his drop kick wide.

Pinely’s restart failed to make it the required 10 metres for the second time and again they were punished. Pifeleti broke away from the back of the scrum and passed it out full back Davies, he picked out Davies on the flank and the winger stepped inside the last man back and put the ball down between the sticks. Hamm back in kicking duty, after Pifeleti fancied himself as fly half last time, duly delivered with a drop kick to make it 69-0.

In the closing seconds, centre Hobbs somehow found it in him to sprint from his own 22 to the try line, beating the covering full back for pace, and scoring the 12th try of the game. Hamm added the kick to make it 76-0.

Get down to Newlands Road on Saturday 5th May as they try to match the success of Luton FC and gain promotion.