Luton Rugby’s promotion hopes suffer huge dent

In a cagey affair, it was the visitors who took their chances to open up an 11-point gap over Luton.

The hosts began the scoring in the sixth minute through Chris Talanoa’s penalty, before he made it 6-0.

Territory proved pivotal as both teams’ defences looked unbreakable but after a sustained period inside Luton’s 22m, Westcliff’s Chris Marsh powered his way through in the 37th minute and Jack Jones’ boot made it 7-6.

Luton looked like they had hit back straight away as Tom Wilmore raced down the right edge to touch down in the corner, but the touch judge ruled he had stepped out of play.

Both teams looked to be more expansive at the beginning of the second period and it was Luton who looked the most likely to regain the lead, but couldn’t cross the line.

The hosts then made a costly error inside their own 22m and Westcliff took advantage as Andy Roskams spun his way over from close range, Jones making it 14-6.

Luton responded well and pushed Westcliff inside their own 22m before Michael Weston proved too strong for the defence as he crashed over to score.

Rik Hobbs was unsuccessful with the conversion as Luton trailed 14-11 with 25 minutes still to play.

The visitors extended their lead in the 55th minute 
when Jones added a simple penalty after Luton were caught offside.

Jones added another penalty two minutes later when Tom Mahendran was penalised for a late tackle to give the visitors a two score lead.

Luton put pressure on themselves by making errors and Westcliff made them pay when Chris Dudman dived in at the corner.

Jones added the difficult conversion to give Westcliff a 27-11 lead with 15 minutes left on the clock.

The hosts needed a quick response if they wanted to get anything out of the game.

Westcliff’s defence held firm until the 71st minute when Wilmore touched down to give Luton some hope, but the visitors held out.

Luton travel to Diss this weekend.

Luton: Pacey, Murphy, Elborn (Harris 52), Roddell (Nelly 40), South, Staff, Weston, Elston (Albone 40), Smith, Talanoa, R Hobbs, Ellis, J Hobbs, Wilmore, Mahendran.