Luton Rugby fight back to end losing run

Luton kicked off the New Year with a win, as they fought from behind to beat Ruislip in London One North on Saturday, writes Stephen Richards.

The visitors took the lead in the ninth minute with a penalty from Michael Forster and while Rik Hobbs’ penalty briefly levelled, another penalty from Forster put Ruislip back in front.

Stuart Pearham then went over, but a missed conversion from Forster saw Luton 11-3 down after 29 minutes.

A second penalty from Hobbs was quickly followed up by a try from Tesh Edwards, pouncing on a loose ball to charge through down the left-hand side.

That levelled the scores for the second time and Hobbs’ missed conversion kept it that way.

A third penalty from Ruislip’s Forster put Ruislip back in front at 14-11 just before half-time.

Both teams were slow to get started for the second half however Hobbs continued his good kicking by scoring another penalty on 57 minutes to level the scores once again.

With 15 minutes remaining, Dan Porter scored a try which looked to have sealed the points for Ruislip, but Forster missed his conversion which proved to be the deciding factor.

Four minutes later, Dan Blinkhorn used his power to force his way past the Ruislip backline to score a try to and make score 19-19.

Hobbs converted his kick to give Luton the lead for the first time in the afternoon.

Despite some late pressure, the hosts managed to hold on for the final 10 minutes to secure a narrow victory.

Luton travel to Old Haberdashers on Saturday.

Luton: Pacey, Irvine, Blimkhorn, Nelly, Heijmans, Elston, Harris, Weston, Mahendran, Wilmore, Edwrards, Ellis, Kenny, Hobbs, Affleck.

Replacements: Murphy, Rodell, Gildersleve.

T: Edwards, Blinkhorn. P: Hobbs (3) C: Hobbs.