Sat 27 Jan 2024, 14:15
Match Report from our man in the trenches, Scoop Muggeridge.
Luton away has not traditionally been a happy hunting ground for Stags, with some notable heavy defeats in the past and throwing away some seemingly unlosable leads. This Saturday it was not the case, with a 33-25 victory for the real green army.
Stags certainly started the brighter of the two teams and were hard on attack early. With less than five minutes gone, from an attacking lineout the catch and drive was thwarted but Nick Saunders broke from the back to crash over for the opening score. Simon Rose was unsuccessful with the conversion from wide out.
On the ten minute mark stags were back on attack. A flowing move down the right wing looked for all money to end in disappointment for Stags, only for the referee to miss an arguable knock on in a moment that former Stags resident referee and now report critic Jon Hutton would be proud of. Captain Jack Skidmore played to whistle though, and was awarded the try, which was converted by Rose.
Stags allowed their hosts a foothold into the game when a driving maul was not contested and in the confusion the Luton hooker scampered away to score. The conversion was missed.
As the half wore on Stags started to play with greater fluency and cohesion. Stags powerful running game was finding several holes in the defensive line, and when Wade Schoemaan made a line break a simple draw and pass to Skidmore saw him dot down for his second. Rose added the extras to give Stags a healthy 19-5 half time lead.
Kick-off in the second stanza was delayed, when Rose needed to be carried from the field after falling down a rabbit hole at half time and spraining his ankle, in what is surely the only time a player has been injured not actually playing. Despite this, Stags were quickly back on the ascendancy and evergreen hooker Seth Muggeridge pushed and barged and shunted his way over to secure the bonus point try. Joe Hicken added the extras.
Another Schoemann line break similar to that in the first half saw him with only the fullback to beat. He could’ve fed Skidmore for his hattrick but opted for the show and go and went in to score under the posts. Hicken added the extras, and with twenty minutes remaining it looked like a fifty pointer could be on the cards.
How wrong Stags were. Their structure and decision making seemed to fall apart, and this allowed Luton to score four unanswered tries. Although the game was never really in doubt there were times when nagging doubt looked to be creeping in, but Stags did enough to run out 33-25 winners.
Captain Skidmore was happy to get a win up Luton, saying “I am happy to get a win up Luton.
“I have played here a few times and never won, so it was good to change that.
“I had to be a bit mean to some of our forwards, and I know Bodge Saunders didn’t like me being mean to him but it must have worked as he was without doubt our man of the match for an excellent defensive shift and outstanding lineout work.
“and the try that Seth scored – WOW – you love to see it!” conclude Skidmore.
Coach Leader was happy with the result, but not the performance, saying “I am happy with the result, but not the performance.
“we left far too many points out there, and allowed too many soft points to be scored against us.
“but it is a bonus point win away from home, and really that’s all that matters. Sometimes you just need to win ugly” concluded Leader.
Stags are back in action next weekend when they host Brackley at the Racecourse. All support welcome.
