Jones backing for Luton Rugby despite sixth straight loss

Despite the defeat, which is the Newlands Road side’s sixth successive reverse this term, manager Dicky Jones remains confident his side will stay up.

He said: “There’s a lot of positives to take. We’ve gone out and played a team that’s far superior to us in league position and we’ve put in a performance that we’re relatively happy with.

“We can’t complain with the heart the boys have given us, they’ve gone out and given us 110 per cent and that’s all we can ask for.

“We’re in a dogfight at the bottom and we’re working hard to improve on that.

“We have played five of the top six so that’s a big factor in it.

“We still have a few of the lesser teams to play yet and we’ll look to build from there.”

Tries from Ed Greenfield, Thomas Simpson, Luke Green and Nicholas Binet ensured Brentwood kept their place at the top of the league.

The first real chance of the game came from Luton after Casimir Akaba burst down the wing, beating three players and passing it to Ryan Doyle, but the opportunity went begging.

It had looked as if they both sides would go into the break scoreless until Brentwood broke through in the 30th minute with a try from Greenfield and Simpson converting.

Just before half time, some great passing saw Luton break through the Brentwood defence but play was called back after the referee deemed the final pass as forward.

Moments after the break, Brentwood went 10-0 in front as Simpson broke through the middle of the field to run the ball over the line before he converted the try.

Luton responded well a few minutes later though as they piled on the pressure and found Aidan Kenny out wide, who eventually fought his way through to ground the ball with Rick Hobbs kicking the extras.

However, with the try came an injury to yet another forward, Tom Garner, who has a suspected broken ankle.

Luton’s lack of forwards really showed throughout the game as they lost most of the scrums, which is what set Brentwood up for their next try when Joshua Stannard made a great run and handed it off to Green who ran the ball over the line, Simpson converting again.

The hosts were still giving it their all, applying a lot of pressure and were awarded a penalty after Brentwood collapsed a scrum, which Hobbs converted to make it 21-10.

The visitors were trying desperately to get a bonus point for a fourth try and their hard work paid off five minutes from the end when a driving maul was sent over the line, Binet scoring the try and Simpson converting.