Late Letchworth comeback thwarts frustrated Luton

Three tries within the space of 14 second half minutes saw Luton condemned to their second straight defeat of the season as they lost another close London One North encounter 15-12 at Letchworth Garden City on Saturday, writes Adam Busfield.

Luton are still searching for their first league win of the season after this agonising defeat against a Letchworth side who clinched their second win of season with a late rally which saw them come from 12-0 down.

Both teams were evenly matched in a tight first half, which saw both teams lack discipline around the ruck and make some simple errors.

The hosts finally broke the deadlock in the 28th minute when their forwards gained the upper hand off an attacking lineout and drive towards the line before some quick hands from Tom Albone created room for hooker David Irvine to power over, with Rik Hobbs converting.

Luton’s Paul Allen would have been the happier of the two coaches at half time his side led by seven points, but they could easily have been behind after Letchworth spawned numerous chances to get on the scoreboard.

Luton could not have asked for a better start to the second half when centre Steve Ellis broke through the Letchworth defence before feeding Jake Hobbs down the wing, who fended off the opposition full-back to placed down in the corner. However, Rik Hobbs was unsuccessful with his touchline conversion.

The home side were in complete control of the game until the 58th minute when Letchworth finally got on the scoreboard.

Ill discipline around the ruck gifted Letchworth field position and they capitalised with a carbon copy of Luton’s first try, when a strong maul from the lineout created room for their prop to power his way over for an unconverted try.

Letchworth nearly got a second try two minutes later when a chip over the top was met on the volley by a Letchworth centre who kicked it over the top of Luton’s full-back Brandon Lewsey and into open space.

He looked certain to score, only for swift winger Khrys Speedy to knock the ball out of play just has he was about to dot down.

However, Letchworth did not have to wait long as one of their wingers raced through some lacklustre Luton defending before throwing a long pass out wide which was met on the bounce by the hooker who did well to fend off Luton’s cover defence to place down in the corner for a second unconverted try.

Luton had the chance to reply straight away but fly-half Rik Hobbs failed to convert a difficult penalty from out-wide.

This only seemed to spur Letchworth on as they started to dominate possession with Luton’s forwards tiring.

And the visitors dealt the killer blow on 72 minutes when a meaningful kick took a wicked bounce for the Letchworth winger to gather and race 40 meters to score next to the posts.

Another missed conversion kept Luton in the game, but they were unable to break through Letchworth’s disciplined defence.

This Saturday Luton host North Walsham.

Luton: Danny Blinkhorn, David Irvine, Sam Pacey, Pat Nelly (C), Tom Albone, Ryan Staff, Jack Elston, Mike Weston, Tom Mahendran, Rik Hobbs, Khrys Speedy, Steve Ellis, Jake Hobbs, Dave Brennan, Brandon Lewsey. Replacements: Jake Elborn, Matt Yang, Tom Wilmore.