Old Haberdashers 21 (18) V Luton 41 (12)

Luton secured their first away win of the season after a brilliant second half performance saw Luton win 41-21 over a resilient Old Haberdashers team.

Old Haberdashers got off to a great start when inside three minutes Marimba Doundo-Mendez scored a try in the corner following a period of sustained pressure from the home team allowed the winger to touch down by the right hand touch line. Tim Walker successfully converted and the scoreline read 7-0.

However it didn’t take long for Luton to respond with a brilliant individual try from Douglas Fluker on 8 minutes. The full back collected the ball inside the Luton 22 metre line and instantly beat two on-rushing Old Haberdashers defenders to make his way to the half way line before chipping the ball behind the full back and collecting the ball himself to score.

The home side then stretched their lead to 5 points after 20 minutes with a penalty directly in front of the posts after the Luton midfield were penalised for being offside.

Luton responded again just three minutes later with scrum-half Tom Mahendran touching down in the right hand corner. After a dominant Luton scrum on the half way line, Jake Hobbs picked a perfect angle to beat the home defence and allow himself to simply offload to Mahendran to score. The conversion, on the right hand touch line, was converted by Rick Hobbs to give Luton the lead for the first time.

Old Haberdashers were then on top for the rest of the first half, scoring 8 unanswered points. Firstly Seb Hurst scoring a try after a good break from Scott Chatterton, this was swiftly followed by another Haberdashers penalty for Luton being offside. The first half then got worse for Luton after Michael Weston was sin binned for the team continually committing offences on the Luton try line; however the team didn’t concede any points during this period.

After some strong words at half time, Luton come flying out of the blocks in the second half with a try inside two minutes. Brandon Lewsey the scorer after some good work from the forwards in turning Old Haberdashers ball over, allowing Rick Hobbs to prod the ball into the corner, allowing Lewsey to get their first and to score. Hobbs then successfully converted giving Luton a one point lead.

With Luton now back to full strength Old Haberdashers got another penalty after Luton failed to roll away in a ruck, the penalty proved to be the last points of the game for the home team.

Luton then scored a great team try on 54 minutes. With the forwards turning an Old Haberdashers scrum over on the half way line, prop forward Daniel Blinkhorn then drove at the heart of the home defence giving great go-forward ball. This was then capitalised by the backs with a good line break by Douglas Fluker before a lovely one handed offload into the path of Aidan Kenny to score. This gave Luton a 24-21 lead.

It was then Old Haberdashers’ turn to have a player sent to the sin bin with David Luson penalised for persistently being offside on their own try line on 60 minutes. However, unlike the home side, Luton utilised their extra man immediately as fly half Rick Hobbs scored after a dominant scrum on the 5m line.

Luton, who seemed to get stronger as the game grew on, scored two more tries in the last 6 minutes. Firstly Thomas Wilmore was the benefactor off a good line break from Christopher Speed, stretching the scoreline to 21-34 in favour of Luton. Ryan Staff then completed the scoring with the last play of the match, forcing himself to place the ball on the line after burying over from 2 yards. Jake Hobbs then converted to ensure Luton won 41-21, a win and a bonus point which was a welcome one for the team.

Old Haberdashers team: Shaun Haque, Randal Whittaker, Andrew Sanderson (Alex Watton 52), Andrew Gray, Mike Marsden (Luke James 52), David Luson, Travis Leon, Andy Levett, Sam Bell, Tim Walker, Marimba Doundo-Mendez (Seb Hurst 27), Martin Olima, Simon Jones, Richard Wright Scott Chatterton

Luton Team: Marc Tindall, David Irvine, Daniel Blinkhorn (Ryan Shephard 68), Patrick Nelly, Thomas Albone (Matthew Yang 68), Ryan Staff, Jack Elston (Christopher Speed 69), Michael Weston, Thomas Mahendran (c), Rick Hobbs, Aidan Kenny, Thomas Wilmore, Jake Hobbs, Brandon Lewsey, Douglas Fluker

Referee: Kalvin Withers
Touch judges: Jeremiah Hanafin and Unknown
Luton’s star man: Douglas Fluker - Brilliant individual try and a lovely offload in the tackle for the fourth try. Great performance all round.