Luton RFC bag first win

The hosts were without centre Steve Ellis who completed his move to the Bedford Blues, and looked to build on last week’s 24-24 draw withRomford and Gidea Park.

Rik Hobbs opened the scoring, converting a penalty for an offside offence in just the second minute.

Letchworth had an opportunity to level but Tom Ansell’s effort was struck wide. Hobbs followed up with a second successful penalty kick before City’s Tee Gurure slammed home a try.

Gurure wasted no time in scoring his second try in the 18th minute as Tom Ansell scored the conversion, taking Letchworth 12-6 ahead.

In the 24th minute, Hobbs’ penalty smashed off the post, but soon afterwards, Letchworth’s Luke Mongston was sent to the sin bin for a dangerous challenge and Chris Davies temporarily required medical attention following a collision.

After some tidy play in the 37th minute from Luton’s Chris Thompson he found space and buried the third try.

Hobbs converted edging the home side 13-12 in front going into the break.

The second half saw the home side take full advantage of Letchworth’s complacency.

Davies touched down home a try in the 45th minute before both teams decided to bring on some fresh legs.

Captain Tom Mahendran got on the score sheet with a wonderful try extending Luton’s lead to 23-12.

Tesh Edwards robustly smashed through the opposition’s back line giving Luton a comfortable lead and ensuring a bonus point.

Kyle Hughes and Gurure grabbed tries for Letchworth making the score 30-24.

A frantic Luton were able to hang on despite a wave of attacks, as although Mahendran saw yellow in the final 10 minutes, his side held on.

Coach Paul Allen expressed his delight with the triumph.

He said: “I think the easiest thing to do is reflect on the victory as it was a collective effort.

“We stood together which was something perhaps we didn’t do so well against Romford.”

Luton are away to North Walsham this weekend and hope to get a result against a side unbeaten at home last season.