Handling errors prove costly in foul conditions as Luton RFC suffer heavy defeat away at Hampstead

In a difficult contest in London, the away side had a hard time keeping the ball in their hands.

Minutes into the match, Jon Kerr fell awkwardly, injuring his knee and Brogan McKeown was brought in to replace him.

Battling against a strong wind in the first half, Luton displayed some good training ground moves that worked well but didn’t result in points.

Luton prevented Hampstead scoring from a penalty while the travelling defence stood firm as much of the play unfolded in their half.

But they couldn’t prevent the hosts heavily outscoring them.

Just before half time Luton were awarded a penalty and one of Hampstead’s players was yellow carded, leaving their team with only 14 players on the pitch.

Unfortunately, Luton didn’t get the basics right in the line out.

Despite the setbacks, they were doing a good job, Martin O’Grady performing a great try-saving tackle and Harry Alston scoring with the added conversion by Olly Haynes.

It was a hard game, played in difficult conditions due to the weather.

Coach Steve Evans said: “The boys struggled with handling the ball in the driving rain and wind, which led to multiple knock ons and other errors.

“An area which we need to look closely at moving forward is our line out which was lacking on multiple occasions during the match.

“A welcome rest week next week allows us to focus on these areas in our upcoming training sessions.”

Luton will have two weeks to recover and prepare before their next encounter, which is against Chiswick on November 9.