London 1 North: Diss v Luton

Luton tries were scored by Callum Strachan, captain Ryan Staff and Don Govere with conversions from Harry Alston.

The first half held a lot of hope for the visitors. Even after Diss scoring the first points in the 8th minute, Strachan soon equalised before captain Staff scored a second try from a ruck. This was Staff’s first try since the home opener, and hopefully a sign that his injuries are behind in 2018 and he could step up even more for the green and red.

The slightly short first period ended with two home tries, leaving the score to 21-14.

The second half was not easy to watch for the travelling Luton supporters. While the boys fought as much as they could until the last whistle, only Govere could score one try, a contrast to the three home tries.

On a positive note, none of the LRFC players suffered any major injuries, which is excellent news after the games in the last few months and the “injury tsunami”.

First team manager Steve Evans was not satisfied with the result and highlighted the key issues that the team is suffering from.

He said: “If we are going to take positives from today, it’s the commitment the boys. They worked their backside off to get the result but it didn’t go that way so we just have to swallow that, move on and come back next week.

“We have an ongoing problem with the consistency with the backs. Week in, week out we don’t have the same squad on the pitch, we have different scrumhalf, 10s and centres, it makes impossible for the boys to know who is capable of achieving what so I think we need to look for some consistency in the team.

“To keep even a glimmer of hope alive to the rest of the season, we have to beat Sudbury. It’s at home, in front of our crowd, it is a must-win for us.”

Luton has to have a quick recovery as they are hosting Sudbury on Saturday, who are only two places above them on the table.

Match Reporter
Orsi Zsuppan