Midlands 2 East (South): Luton 24 - 34 Old Laurentians

Tries from Ben Murphy, Dave Evans, Alex Lami and Don Govere were not enough for Luton to avoid their second defeat of the season.

Old Laurentians took the lead as their fly half slotted home a simple penalty in front of the posts.

The visitors expanded their lead to 10 points as their number 22 wriggled his way past a number of Luton players and passed it to the number eight who was free to dive over the line. The fly half converted easily.

Old Laurentians number four then dived over the line to give the visitors a 15-point advantage, the fly half added the extra points once more.

After a number of strong phases of play from Luton, Murphy received the ball from Evans five metres out and forced himself over the line to make it 5-17. David Hamm missed the conversion.

It looked as though Aiden Kenny had closed the gap further as he went over the line but the referee deemed the assisting pass from Hamm was forward.

At the other end Old Laurentians extended their lead by another five points as their number 24 picked the ball up at the back of a ruck five metres out and nobody could stop him crashing over the line, the visitors fly half missed the kick.

The visitors got the first try of the second half as their prop passed the ball out from a ruck to their number six and Ryan Staff and Brogan McKeown couldn’t stop him getting over, the replacement kicker pulled the conversion wide of the posts.

Evans made it 10-27 as Matt Yang passed the ball to him from the back of the scrum and the scrum half beat the opposition winger to touch the ball down. Hamm added on the extras with a good kick from an angle just past the 22-metre line.

Luton then closed the gap to 10 points as Rik Hobbs played a long looping pass finding Lami free on the wing and he dived over the line in the corner. Hamm’s conversion struck the post from distance.

Old Laurentians full back then intercepted a pass from Evans on the half way and was left with a clear run to the try line to put any hopes of Luton comeback to bed. The kicker converted the simple kick in front of the posts.

Govere scored Luton’s fourth try of the game and Hamm converted quickly with a drop kick to pull the game back to 10 points.

Hobbs had the opportunity to gain Luton the losing bonus point with a last gasp penalty, but his kick from distance fell agonisingly short of the posts and the game ended 24-34.

Luton will be hoping for a win then face eighth placed Olney away from home next weekend.

Joel Pattison
Match Reporter