Valiant Luton lose away at Vikings

The home side were dominant from start to finish, as they compounded a tragic week for the Luton with a master class performance. Both sides participated in a minute of applause at the beginning of the match as a mark of respect for Luton player Mark Davey who died tragically last weekend.

It appeared the visitors were still affected by the week’s events, as the Vikings got on the score-sheet early on with David Treglown scoring from a penalty in the third minute. The visitors tried in vain to settle into the match, by winning scrums in Walsham’s territory, but these efforts proved to be futile as they gave away cheap knock-ons.

In the 13th minute of the match, Luton had their best passage of play, as Tesh Edwards and Chris Davis connected brilliantly to go past the Viking backline, but could not find their way to the line. They would rue their missed chance as Treglown converted a penalty for Walsham to increase their lead to 6-0 with 18 minutes played. Luton’s Rick Hobbs responded barely three minutes later, with a penalty of his own, following an offside.

In the 24th minute, yet another penalty was scored by the trusted left boot of Treglown, due to Luton’s Tom Mahendran being caught in an offside position. The Viking’s domination of the match was asserted in the 29th minute with Ryan Oakes scoring a try to give them a 14-3 lead that left the visitors with a mountain to climb. David Treglown kicked in the resulting conversion to make it 16-3 to the home side

Following several scrappy-looking scrums Walsham’s debutant Jacques Oliver went to the sin-bin, for not rolling away after a tackle. Luton’s Hobbs scored the resulting penalty, to make it Vikings 16 - Luton 6.

In the second period, it took just a minute for Luton flanker Adam Harris to score a try, following a powerful period of play from Edwards who expertly thwarted two tackles from the home side’s back-line. Rick Hobbs was unfortunate with his conversion kick, but Luton were now closer with the scores at 16-11.

Four minutes later, the Vikings increased their lead through a try from Ryan Oakes and a conversion by David Treglown to make it 23-11. They showed their ruthless streak once again as Van der Vveren scored a try in the 49th minute. Treglown kept up his perfect conversion rate of the afternoon to make it 30-11 to North Walsham.

It got worse for Paul Allen’s side in the 56th minute when Adam Harris was sent to the sin bin due to repeated infringements. Two minutes later, the Viking’s Van der Vveren followed him for a nasty looking tackle on Luton captain Tom Mahendran.

Just past the hour mark, Luton started one of their famous late rallies when Tom Mahendran scored his first try of the afternoon, but Rick Hobbs could not follow up with the conversion kick.

In the 63rd minute, Luton’s Tom Albone was forced off, following a tackle on one of the opposing players. The hosts numerical advantage enabled Jacques Olivier score a try in the seventy-sixth minute, before David Treglown scored the conversion to end the game at 37-16 to the unbeaten Vikings.

After the match, Luton’s team physio Paul Carter revealed that Mike Weston has sustained a suspected knee injury, while Tom Albone suffered a potentially broken hand and added both will be assessed during the week.

The Luton will be hoping to get back to winning ways when they meet Colchester next weekend.

Match Reporter
Nigel Makale