1stXV Secure a comfortable bonus point win at Luton

Chiltern travelled to near neighbours Luton and came away with a bonus point victory to move them a couple of places up the league table.
It was dank day and frankly the rugby was, at times, not a lot better. The referee struggled throughout to maintain any sort of consistency and order with the highest number of penalties seen in a game at this level for many years. Chiltern went off like a rocket, an early scrum after Luton knocked on saw the Chiltern pack demolish the Luton scrum. Quick ball was moved wide for centre David John to stride through the defence for the first try which was converted by Stuart Pearham.

It was good to see Ryan Greenstreet back on the field and following another round of quick passing, Ryan ran through a couple of tackles before passing inside to Ben Pothecary who in turn sent Pearham over under the posts. The try converted and Chiltern were ahead by 14 with only 15 minutes played. Frankly the next hour was eminently forgettable with the whistle in almost constant use. Luton were struggling with fitness and time and again their players were requesting stoppages in play which destroyed any fluency.

Chiltern were brought down to Luton’s level of mediocrity and wasted countless chances to extend their lead. Two tries were disallowed with the referee in the wrong position to see what had occurred but Chiltern should still have been able to rise above things. Well into the second half and after a successful catch and drive yielded an unconverted try for Luton, Chiltern finally woke up. First a series of scrums, which followed several more penalties, led to Ollie Cato forcing his way over for an unconverted try and then after an excellent scissors move in the backs replacement wing Iwan Thomas sliced through the Luton threequarters to run in a 50m try which was converted by Pearham to make the final score 26-5 to Chiltern.

5 points were very welcome but after playing so well against a much better team last week the bonus point win was the best thing to come out of a poor game.

Next Saturday is the last home game before Christmas when Eton Manor will be the visitors. It was one game each last season but there is no doubt that the boys will need to raise their game if they are to secure another victory. Kick off will be at 2.00pm.