Luton fall further adrift as they suffer second home loss

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 Jon Bean slotted home a simple penalty.

The visitors extended their lead to 10 points with a try for Andrew Orbinson, converted easily by Bean.

It was 17-0 when Ben Anderson dived over as the extras were of no concern to the on-form Bean.

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 17-5.

David Hamm missed the conversion, but it looked as though Aiden Kenny had closed the gap further when he went over, only for the referee to deem the assisting pass from Hamm was forward.

At the other end, Old Laurentians extended their lead by another five points as Chris le Poidevin picked the ball up at the back of a ruck five metres out and powered over, although this time the extras were missed.

After the break, the visitors were on the scoreboard again as Ryan Staff and Brogan McKeown couldn’t stop Dom Hammond from carving through to cross the line.

Evans made it 27-10 as Matt Yang passed the ball to him from the back of the scrum and he beat the opposition winger to touch the ball down.

Hamm added the extras with a good kick from a tight 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 in the corner, although Hamm’s conversion from distance struck the post.

Any hopes of a comeback were dashed though when full back Jordan Bunn intercepted a pass from Evans on half way and was left with a clear run to the try line, Ben Roach’s boot doing the rest.

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 attempt from distance fell agonisingly short of the posts as the game ended 34-24.

Luton will be hoping for a win when they travel to eighth placed Olney next weekend, before a two week break over the Christmas period, as the Newlands Road side return at home to Stewarts & Lloyds on January 6.