Three tries within the space of 14 second half minutes saw Luton record their second straight defeat of the season as they lost another close encounter, 15-12 against Letchworth Garden City.

Luton are still in search for their first win of the season, after another agonisingly close game which saw Letchworth clinch their second win of season with a late rally which saw them come from 12 points down.
Both teams were evenly matched in what you can say an error strewn first half, which saw both teams lack discipline around the ruck and make some simple errors.

Luton finally broke the deadlock in the 28th minute when Luton’s forwards gained the upper hand off an attacking line-out which saw them drive towards the line before some quick hands from Tom Albone created room for hooker David Irvine to power over. Rik Hobbs converted the kick to take the score to 0-7.

Luton’s Paul Allen would have been the happier of the both coaches at the half time break as Luton led by seven, but could have easily been behind after Letchworth spawned numerous chances to get on the scoreboard.

Luton could not have asked for a better start to the second half when centre Steve Ellis broke through the Letchworth defence before feeding Jake Hobbs down the wing, who still had to fend the opposition full back off before placing down in the corner. Rik Hobbs was unsuccessful with the conversion, 0-12 Luton.

Luton were in complete control of the game up until the 58th minute when Letchworth finally got on the scoreboard after some ill-discipline around the ruck from Luton gifted Letchworth with some good field territory. Letchworth capitalised on this and scored a carbon copy of Luton’s first try, when a strong maul from the line-out created room for the prop to power his way over. Missed conversion took the score to 5-12 Luton.

Letchworth nearly got on the score sheet two minutes later after a chip kick over the top was met on the volley by Letchworth’s centre who kicked it over the top of Luton’s full back Brandon Lewsey into open space and looked all but certain to score, but for the intervention of winger Khrys Speedy who knock the ball out of play just has he was about to place the ball down.

However, Letchworth did not have to wait long until they got themselves onto the scoreboard again, as the winger raced through some lacklustre defence before throwing a long pass out wide which was met on the bounce by the hooker who did well to fend off Luton’s cover defence to place down in the corner. Another missed conversion took the score to 10-12 Luton.

Luton had the chance to reply back straight away but fly-half Rik Hobbs failed to convert the difficult penalty from out-wide.

This only seemed to spur Letchworth on as they started to dominated possession as Luton’s forwards started to tire, and they dealt the killer blow in the 72nd minute when a pretty meaningful kick took a wicked bounce, only for the Letchworth winger to gather and race 40 meters to score next to the posts.

However another missed conversion kept Luton in the game, but they were unable to break through the well disciplined defence of Letchworth.

Letchworth Garden City Vs Luton
Luton team: Danny Blinkhorn, David Irvine, Sam Pacey, Pat Nelly (c), Tom Albone, Ryan Staff, Jack Elston, Mike Weston, Tom Mahendran, Rik Hobbs, Khrys Speedy, Steve Ellis, Jake Hobbs, Dave Brennan, Brandon Lewsey, Jake Elborn, Matt Yang, Tom Wilmore

Reporter: Adam Busfield