Manor travelled to Luton for their first ever encounter with a squad depleted by unavailability and illness meaning that 1st team debuts were given to Chris Hurry and Oliver Waugh and a first game of the season to Blane McKie. With a changed team Manor knew that they would be hard pressed to come away with a result and their cause wasn’t helped when two players were shown red cards during the game.

Manor kicked off and were soon pressurising the Luton try line, but good defence stopped Manor from scoring early on. As Luton soaked up the pressure Manor became the victim of the whistle of the referee for the first time, something that would happen on numerous occasions for both sides from a referee that appeared to want to be the central figure of the match. Eventually Luton worked their way up field using their driving forwards to good effect and being met by unusually weak first up tackling from Manor. After a period of sustained pressure, Luton finally broke the deadlock by crashing over the line for a 7 point score after 7 minutes of play.

Manor hurried Luton from the kick off eventually winning a line out 40 meters out. With a good catch and drive Manor worked their way forward only to be stopped illegally giving Max Murray the first opportunity of points for Manor. Unfortunately his kick from wide out missed allowing Luton to relieve the pressure with a 22 meter drop out. Still Manor continued to press with Murray exploiting a gap in the Luton line to release Chris Jones who made good ground into Luton’s half before being stopped by a high tackle. Again Murray took the shot at goal, this time from 40 meters out and was unlucky to see his attempt hit the crossbar and bounce back into the field of play allowing Luton to run the ball back at Manor and work their way up field and attack Manors line. Eventually Luton were awarded a penalty in front of the posts, but the easy kick was missed from 15 meters out and the score remained 7-0 with 18 minutes played.

There now followed a period of play in the middle of the pitch, with neither side gaining the ascendency, with the match getting a little fractious. Then, as Luton attacked close to the halfway line after 25 minutes of play, a moment that would change the shape of the game took place. Luton executed a set play bringing in their winger to take the ball up the middle, only to be met by Callum McKie who put in a crunching tackle, but unfortunately appeared to lift the player in the tackle. The referee blew his whistle deeming the tackle to be dangerous and showed McKie a red card. With Manor now down to 14 men they were going to struggle. Luton sensed that this was their opportunity to take control of the game and kicked to touch for an attacking lineout. With the lineout secured Luton pounded Manors defences, a tactic that soon paid dividends when their No13 crashed through to score Luton’s second converted try of the game and take the score to 14-0.

Luton were now in full flow using their backline to attack Manors depleted defences and things got worse for Manor when Michael Eghan was shown a yellow card for a high tackle, although things were evened up slightly when a Luton player couldn’t help himself getting involved and was also shown a yellow card. Somewhat surprisingly, after deeming a high tackle the referee didn’t award a penalty to Luton, but gave a set scrum to Manor. Manor took the chance to attack into Luton’s 22 but poor handling let them down allowing Luton to turn the ball over and attack down Manor’s unguarded wing. The move saw play go into Manors half and with only fullback Huw Levis to beat, the Luton player drew his man, and despite being tackled into touch by Levis, he passed inside to his supporting player who strolled over the line for Luton’s third try of the afternoon and after 35 minutes they led 19-0.

With time running out in the first half, and despite being a man down, Manor finished the half the stronger of the sides, taking the play to Luton with a series of forward drives then releasing their backline with Jones making good ground jinking his way towards the Luton line, only to be brought down 5 meters short. With the forwards in close support quick ruck ball was set up for Nick Horton to feed the backs and with an overlap a certain try was on offer, only for the referee to get in the way of Horton pass stopping Manor’s attack. Undaunted, from the 5 meter scrum, Garth Tucker drove forward and crossed the line for Manor’s first try of the game. With the conversion good from Murray the score moved to 19-7 to Luton.

With little time left to play, Luton pressurised Manor into a mistake and from turnover ball attacked down Manor’s flank and looked to have put their winger in the clear for another try, only to be brought back for a forward pass. From the resulting scrum, Murray set off on an attack, weaving through Luton tacklers, but just when he looked like he might have been able to out sprint the Luton defence, he was bundled into touch on the halfway line bringing to the end the first half with Manor losing 19-7.

The second half began brightly for Luton with a period of pressure inside Manors 22 and it wasn’t long before they extended their lead. After a series of pick and drives they were awarded a set scrum 8 meters out from Manors line. The set piece was secured allowing their No8 to drive off the base and go over the line taking two Manor defenders with him. The conversion was missed, but after 5 minutes of the second half Luton led 24-7 and had scored their try scoring bonus point.

Manor now had a period of attacking play taking the game to Luton with Eghan and John Robinson making good ground before eventually winning Manor a penalty. Kicking to touch for an attacking lineout Manor secured the ball only to be brought down and awarded a scrum. Tucker again picked up and fed to Murray who again jinked is way past would be tacklers before popping the ball to Robinson who was brought down just short of the line, but was isolated and penalised for holding on giving Luton the chance to clear their lines from a penalty.

Luton again began building the phases of attacks, taking the play into Manor’s half, making their extra man advantage count. Manor for their part defended well until Luton put a kick in behind Manors defensive line, turning Levis around to chase the ball back. He did exceptionally well to get to the ball first and drive back towards the Luton attackers who were right on him. Despite the help from Manors retreating forwards, the referee awarded Luton a penalty 8 meters out for holding on. Seeing that Manor players were getting into line to defend, Luton took a quick penalty, passing the ball along the line allowing them to score a simple try under the posts. With the conversion good Luton looked to have made the game safe leading 31-7.

Manor now upped their game, David Hanna competed well at the kick off causing Luton to spill the ball. Manor were quickest to react and drove the ball into Luton’s 22 through their forwards, but just as the move looked like paying dividends Manor spilled the ball forward giving Luton the opportunity to clear their lines from a scrum. Still Manor continued to pressurise Luton, making light of being a man down. Luton were now giving away penalties allowing Manor to set up an attacking lineout, just on Luton’s 22. This time it was Manors backs turn to make good ground, with Blane McKie looking dangerous with ball in hand, often taking two or three Luton players to stop him. Manor were awarded another penalty 8 meters from Luton’s line, and were looking to press home their advantage, only to throw it away when the penalty was reversed for some stupid backchat from Manor allowing Luton to relieve the pressure.

Luton competed at the lineout and turning the ball over they kicked it into Manors 22, chased by their backrow. Jones was first to the ball, beating the two approaching Luton players before feeding Eghan out on his wing on the 22 meter line. He then set off up field, outpacing the chasing defenders, to be faced by his opposite number, who he fended off and continued into Luton’s half. Here he was faced by another defender who put in an attempted tackle only for Eghan to power through him, knocking him aside, he then had the pace to race in at the corner for a superb individual 65 meter try. With the difficult conversion from wide out successful from Murray, Manor had reduced the deficit to 31-14 and were now looking the stronger of the two sides.

As it turned out, it was Manor who again threatened to score next. A Luton attack was held up in the middle of the park with debutant Ollie Waugh stripping the ball off of a Luton player and taking the ball to ground, Richard Woods picked up the ball and ran through a gap making 10 meters before feeding Murray who danced his was through tacklers before passing to the unmarked Jones out on the wing for what should have been a simple run in for a try. Unfortunately Jones had overrun the pass and couldn’t hold on to the ball. From the scrum Manor harried the No8 forcing a turnover and again set up a number of drives towards Luton’s line, only for a knock on to ruin their chances of another score.

With time running out Manor again turned over Luton ball on the halfway line, with Murray quickest to react to the loose ball, he set off through Luton’s forwards and as he approached the 22 he fed the supporting Robinson who made off along the touch line again feeding the supporting Eghan before being bundled into touch. Eghan then had the power to make the final 6 meters despite attempts to stop him, touching down in the corner for Manors third try. With difficult touchline conversion just missed Manor had closed the gap to 31-19.

Luton now responded to Manors threat and after a period of sustained pressure, again made their extra man advantage count by putting their winger over in the corner with suspicion of a forward pass for a converted try to lead 38-19. Manor though had again upset the referee who awarded a penalty to Luton instead of a Manor re-start. After kicking to touch Luton won the resulting lineout and again brought in to the line their winger who had been tracked by Eghan, who then tackled the Luton player, a tackle that was judged by the referee to be dangerous and he showed Eghan a second yellow card, which meant he was shown a red card. He was soon followed to the touchline by a Luton player shown a yellow card for getting involved in an incident that we will only describe as unsavoury.

Luton had the last attack of the game when from the last play of the match they won a scrum 10 meters from Manors line, allowing their number 8 to pick up from the base and go in over the line for another 7 point score bringing the final score to 45-19.

On the day Manor had been well beaten and Luton deserved their victory. Manor knew that they would have to be a their best to defeat the home side and a combination of player availability and having to play more than half the game a man down made their task all the more difficult. Even so, the players on the pitch did not play to their full potential and will be looking to put things right during training and hopefully will bounce back next Saturday in their home match against an improving Rochford side.