Luton touch down nine tries as they whip Woodford

Tom Wilmore scores three tries as Luton recorded their third-straight victory in London One North on Saturday as they cruised to a 64-5 win at Woodford, writes Adam Busfield.

Luton ran in nine tries as they recovered from a slow start to the game.

Rik Hobbs gave Luton the lead with a 17th-minute penalty but, struggling to cope with the wet conditions, Woodford hit back with a try four minutes later.

Woodford caught Luton sleeping with a quick lineout as scrum-half Jonny Smith raced to touch down in the corner for an unconverted try.

Luton had the chance to hit back straight away, but Hobbs’ penalty hit an upright.

They didn’t have to wait long though to get back in front as Mike Weston burst straight through Woodford’s defence to touch down under the posts on 26 minutes with Hobbs converting.

Luton started to look too strong for Woodford and started to regularly break through as Wilmore went straight up the middle after half an hour.

He looked to have blown the chance when he decided to go on his own with support on both sides, but on the next play Hobbs crossed in the corner, before converting himself.

Luton were in again four minutes later when scrum-half Tom Mahendran’s jinking run proved too much for the hosts to handle as he dived over in the corner for another unconverted try.

The visitors continued to dismantle their hosts and registered their bonus point try on 38 minutes when a good break created room for Wilmore to cross over for his first try of the game.

A superb off-load in the tackle by Dan Blinkhorn allowed centre Steve Ellis to break downfield before drawing in the full-back and feeding Wilmore, who raced 30m to score under the posts for a converted try as Luton led 29-5 at half time.

Luton couldn’t have asked for a better start to the second half either as they crossed twice within the first three minutes to take a commanding 43-5 lead.

Ryan Staff was first to cross with just under a minute played. After collecting the ball from a loose Woodford lineout he raced 30m to score a converted try.

Wilmore was in for his second just two minutes later. Blinkhorn crashed through to race 20m downfield and on the next play Hobbs kicked across field into open space for Wilmore to collect and touch down for a converted try.

Woodford kept going but, despite enjoying more ball and territory, they were unable to break through the strong Luton defence.

The visitors registered their seventh try of the game in the 64th minute when Wilmore crossed completed hat-trick after Doug Fluker had raced down the left edge to create enough room for the centre to go over for a converted try.

Luton proceeded to regularly punch through the tiring Woodford defence, but didn’t add to their lead until the 71st minute when Ellis broke straight through the middle and drew the full back, before playing in Brandon Lewsey to stroll over under the posts for a converted try.

The visitors were reduced to 14 men with two minutes to play when Blinkhorn was yellow-carded for not releasing at a ruck, but this couldn’t stop Luton’s momentum as they scored again with the final play of the game.

Fluker benefited from a crossfield kick to touch down and Hobbs added his eighth conversion of the game to make the final score to 64-5 to Luton.

Luton: Marc Tindall (Dwayne Duffy 55), Ben Murphy, Sam Pacey (Connor Sibley 55), Dan Blinkhorn, Tom Albone, Ryan Staff, Mike Weston, Jack Elston, Tom Mahendran (Jonny Wright 55), Rik Hobbs, Brandon Lewsey, Tom Wilmore, Steve Ellis, Aiden Kenny, Doug Fluker. T: Weston, Hobbs, Mahendran, Wilmore 3, Staff, Lewsey, Fluker. C: Hobbs 8. P: Hobbs.

Woodford: Steph Eleftheriou, Andrew Murphy (Niall Moody 67), Brad Burrell, Charlie Simpson (John Cruddace 34), Alfie Curness, Guy Bishop, David Spencer, Tim Saull, Jonny Smith, Cameron Dutch, Pat Camm (Elliot Kayser 68), Ashley Sommers, Alex Silk, Adam Duffy, Pete Hyett. T: Smith.

Referee: Michael Woods.

Touch Judges: Jim Cruddace and Jeremiah Hanafin.

Luton Star Man: Dan Blinkhorn. Was too big and powerful for Woodford’s defence all game and was instrumental in two of Luton’s tries.