Luton within a whisker of snatching all the points, but they’re off the mark after Hackney stalemate

Luton Rugby Club earned their first points of the season with a hard-fought draw against fourth-place Hackney.
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But two points could have been five had Luton snatched a late score from a final scrum on the opposition’s five metre line in this London 2 North West fixture.

Instead they have to wait until Saturday’s trip to Chiswick for an opportunity to enjoy a first win of the campaign.

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The Newlands side did well to break their early season duck.

However, in such a competitive division the results will need to change soon.

Hackney got off to a good start and were 7-0 up on 10 minutes.

Luton levelled the scores with Shane Thomas diving over in the corner and Olly Haynes adding a difficult conversion.

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Hackney forged ahead again but the sides changed ends with the score level after a John Kerr try and another Haynes conversion.

The home side conceded a third try straight from the re-start.

But a long range-penalty saw Haynes reduce the deficit.

Hackney regained their seven-point advantage with a penalty.

One again Luton showed their resilience by coming back.

This time they levelled the scores for the final time as the contest ended in a stalemate... just.

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Todd Williams touched down and Haynes completed a perfect kicking display by adding the conversion.

But there was still more action to come.

Late drama saw Luton chase a kick to the try line where Hackney conceded a scrum and had a man sent to the sin bin.

But a draw was a fair result and first team manager Steve Evans summed it up.

“The players are taking all the right steps, and I’m convinced our first win of the season is coming,” he said afterwards.

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“Callum Strachan was rightly nominated man of the match but there’s no doubt that all of the players put their all into the match.

“We are having no trouble scoring into the 20s in our matches, but it’s our defence and tackling which requires work.”

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