THREE out of four rugby sides in Comet country resume league hostilities this Saturday. Letchworth travel to Thurrock in the London Two North, while Stevenage Town visit Hampstead and promoted Datchworth host London New Zealand in the London Three North W

THREE out of four rugby sides in Comet country resume league hostilities this Saturday.

Letchworth travel to Thurrock in the London Two North, while Stevenage Town visit Hampstead and promoted Datchworth host London New Zealand in the London Three North West.

The Stags of Stevenage Town warmed up by a tough trip to Luton.

Coach Terry Penny set the players a hard task in taking on his previous club, who are two leagues above and destined for the national leagues, with their investment in their player-coach, Samoan international Junior Paramore.

Town took the game to Luton from the start and a free-flowing 80 minutes ensued. Stags' heroic defensive line broke after half an hour of torrid tackling practice before the Luton all-stars finally broke through.

The Stags front row had their own masterclass to demonstrate a startled Luton trio as Stevenage dominated the set pieces all day.

Occasional excursions into the Luton half by intelligent territorial kicking gave the Town forwards the opportunity to conjure their own solution to converting pressure into points as Gareth Roberts scored on the blindside from a lineout move.

Iain Penny converted a difficult kick against a strong wind.

Further pressure to stretch Luton also saw speedster Ian Crompton race down the wing to be caught just short but smart enough to feed the charging Roberts to give him another try in the corner.

Other scores: Luton II 10 Stevenage Town II 5 (try - Barry Mellor); Stevenage Town III 45 (tries - Luke Penfold two, Bob Congleton, Dan Alexander, Jack Golds, Matt Smith, Don Ransom) Welwyn IV 5; Stevenage Town IV 19 (tries - Jon Gwilliams, Andy Boyle, Gwyn Lewis; cons - John Alexander two) Hampstead IV 17.

Datchworth take on the familiar opponents of London New Zealand who gained promotion along with the village club last season.

The villagers fielded a mixture of first and second teamers for a trials match at Tring.

Two 17-year-olds, Tom Nesbitt and Dan McGuire, went well in their first senior run out.

Welshman Al Thomas was also back in a Datchworth top after recovering from having his spleen removed at the end of last season.