Woodford 5 V Luton 64

London One North: Woodford 5 V Luton 64
Tom Wilmore scores three tries as Luton record their third straight victory in London One North as they cruised past Woodford, 64-5 on Saturday.
Luton ran in nine unanswered tries as they recovered from a slow start to the game as they struggled to cope with the wet conditions and they fell behind to a Woodford try in the 21st minute after Rik Hobbs gave Luton the lead four minutes earlier with a successful penalty.
Woodford caught Luton sleeping with a quick lineout and scrum half Jonny Smith raced to touch down in the corner for an unconverted try.
Luton had the chance to hit back straight away but Hobbs’ penalty hit the uprights, but they didn’t have to wait long to get back in front as Mike Weston burst straight through Woodford’s defence to touch down under the post for a converted try by Hobbs in the 26th minute.
Luton started to look too strong for Woodford and started to break through on regular occurrence and in the 30th minute Wilmore went straight up the middle and had looked to have blown the chance when he decided to go on his own when he had support both sides, but on the next play Hobbs crossed over in the corner. Hobbs converting, 17-5 Luton.
Luton was in again four minutes later through scrum half Tom Mahendran whose jinking run was too much for the hosts to handle as he dived over in the corner, conversion unsuccessful.
Luton were proving too strong for the hosts and scored the bonus point try in the 38th minute when a good break created room for Wilmore to cross over for his first of the game.
A superb offload in the tackle by Dan Blinkhorn allowed center Steve Ellis to break down field before drawing in the full back to feed Wilmore who raced 30 meters to score under the posts for a converted try to take the score to 29-5 at the half time break.
Paul Allen, Directory of rugby at Luton would have been happy with his side’s first half performance despite the slow start to the game.
Luton couldn’t have asked for a better start to the second half as they crossed twice within the first three minutes to take the score to a comprehensive 43-5 lead.
Ryan Staff was first to cross with just under a minute played after collecting the ball from a loose Woodford lineout and he raced 30 meters to score a converted try.
Wilmore was in for his second just two minutes later when Blinkhorn crashed through to race 20 meters down field and on the next play Hobbs kicked across field into open space for Wilmore to collect and touchdown for a converted try.
The hosts never gave in on the game and started to get a bit more ball and territory but they were unable to break through the strong defence of Luton.
Luton was in for their seventh try of the game in the 64th minute when Wilmore crossed for his hat-trick after some good supportive play after Doug Fluker raced down the left edge to create room for the center to go over for a converted try.
Luton started to break through on most occasions now with Woodford tiring but they didn’t add to their lead until the 71st minute when Ellis broke straight through the middle before drawing in the full back to feed Brandon Lewsey who strolled over under the post for a converted try.
The visitors were sent down to 14 men in the 78th minute when Blinkhorn saw yellow for not releasing in the ruck, but this did not stop Luton’s momentum as they scored with the final play of the game through Fluker who credited from a cross field kick to touch down, Hobbs adding his eighth conversion of the game to take the final score to 64-5 Luton.

Luton Team: Marc Tindall (Dwayne Duffy 55), Ben Murphy, Sam Pacey (Connor Sibley 55), Dan Blinkhorn, Tom Albone, Ryan Staff, Mike Weston, Jack Elston, Tom Mahendran (Jonny Wright 55), Rik Hobbs, Brandon Lewsey, Tom Wilmore, Steve Ellis, Aiden Kenny, Doug Fluker. T: Weston, Hobbs, Mahendran, Wilmore (3), Staff, Lewsey, Fluker. C: Hobbs (8). P: Hobbs
Woodford Team: Steph Eleftheriou, Andrew Murphy (Niall Moody 67), Brad Burrell, Charlie Simpson (John Cruddace 34), Alfie Curness, Guy Bishop, David Spencer, Tim Saull, Jonny Smith, Cameron Dutch, Pat Camm (Elliot Kayser 68), Ashley Sommers, Alex Silk, Adam Duffy, Pete Hyett. T: Smith
Referee: Michael Woods
Touch Judges: Jim Cruddace, Jeremiah Hanafin
Luton Star Man: Dan Blinkhorn. Was too big and powerful for Woodford’s defence all game and was instrumental in two of Luton’s tries.