This weekend, the Old Boys 1st XV hosted Luton RFC at Stamford Welland Academy. Luton were relegated to the Counties 3 league following a significant points deduction last season, and it’s clear they intend to bounce right back up after a 73-17 victory over South Leicester last weekend.

Luton won the coin toss and opted to kick off to begin the match. The College ran two phases through Callum Fraser and Sam Duncan before fly-half Liam Greenslade opted for territory, putting his boot through the ball and giving Luton a lineout on the halfway line.

The following five minutes were messy and unstructured as Luton demonstrated their desire for fluid rugby, but early jitters led to knock-ons scrums. It quickly became apparent the Old Boys were in for a tough afternoon at scrum time – a shock after they were dominant in Northampton last weekend.

Luton’s number eight picked and went from the base of a scrum before offloading to his inside-centere, who danced through the College defense to score to the right of the posts. It was converted and Luton led 0-7.

After clearing their lines at kick-off, the Old Boys collected their own kick and began to build some phases of their own in Luton’s half. Storming runs from James Green and Russ Polson moved the College deeper into Luton territory, until they were awarded a penalty at the breakdown.

To keep the scoreboard ticking, the Old Boys opted for three points. Carl Brierley-Lewis stepped up cooly and successfully closed the gap to 3-7.

Luton were next to score. Their strong backline played with the flair and physicality you would expect to see at Ratu Cakobau Park, capitalising on every Old Boys error to gain vital meters. After five minutes camped on the College try line, whose defence was holding strong, Luton’s scrumhalf identified a gap and dived through it to score. The conversion was good, but they extended their lead to 3-12.

Despite Luton’s efforts to force an open but messy match, the Old Boys stuck to their attacking structure which ground down the Luton defence.

Eventually, Tiago Rodrigues collected the ball in a seven-meter lineout and looked to set a maul, which was successfully pulled down by Luton. Jimmy Twose recognized his opportunity and darted down the blindside, past a pile of bodies, to score in the corner. The kick was missed, but the gap closed to 8-12.

Minutes later, after Dom Hearne received a yellow card for a late tackle, Luton took another quick tap penalty to catch the Old Boys offside. The away side’s fly half threw an audacious dummy pass to create a gap in the scrambling College defence and went in to score. The kick hit the posts, and Luton extended their lead to 8-17.

The Old Boys continued to look to build phases and demonstrate their tight attacking structure, earning them important field positions, which they successfully converted into points. Another breakdown penalty saw Brierley-Lewis kick another three points and the gap close to 11-17.

The remainder of the half saw the Old Boys absorb continued pressure from the strong Luton attack, which eventually resulted in Luton opting to kick for posts from a scrum penalty. It was missed and the first half finished with Luton leading 11-17.

The second half was a back-and-forth affair as neither side was able to convert pressure into points, as defences held strong. That was until Luton dropped the ball deep in their own half, which Dom Hearne was quick to capitalize on, dropping on it to score under the posts – making up for his earlier yellow. Brierley-Lewis converted again, and for the first time the Old Boys led 18-17.

Both sides continued to put in strong attacking and even stronger defensive performances, meaning much of the second half remained scoreless. The Old Boys opted to kick another three points for another breakdown penalty, extending their score to 21-17.

In the closing ten minutes, Luton exploited tired College bodies to score two more, both of which they converted, to re-establish their lead at 21-31 – an unfair reflection of the match.

Determined to take something from the afternoon, the Old Boys continued their work deep into the 80th minute until Luton were penalized for being offside. Brierley-Lewis once again stepped up to kick the points, and the match finished 24-31, meaning the College took a vital losing bonus point from the afternoon.

Despite the disappointment not to have won, the Old Boys are building confidence after taking league points from two of the league’s top sides. They will look to build on this next weekend as they travel to Rugby Welsh RFC.