Sunday 20th March 2011
Skolars fell to the second defeat of the league campaign, despite three early tries that put them into a 16-6 lead after a quarter of an hour. That was followed by 6 unanswered tries for the visitors who took advantage of a series of Skolars’ errors when in possession.
Skolars had taken the lead after two minutes, with Luke May racing onto a Dylan Skee kick to score. The Dons soon went ahead with Scott Spaven converting his own try, which came from a break from acting half-back. That was against the run of play and Skolars regained the lead when Austen Aggrey’s pass found Jason Hart running on at pace to score under the posts – his first try for the club. Aggrey and Skee then combined to send Gareth Honor over.
That was Gareth Honor’s 30th try for Skolars, putting him second in the Skolars try scoring list in the professional era, moving ahead of Rubert Jonker and Ashley Tozer.
Then came three unanswered tries for the Dons before half-time. Nev Morrison’s pass set up Mick Butterfield’s try then Craig Fawcett’s pass opened up the defence for Ryan Steen to score. After Jy-Mel Coleman’s 40-20 kick, Skolars couldn’t hold possession and the Dons punished them with Spaven adding his second try; going over from dummy half just after Kyle Kesik had gone close trying the same move.
Two tries early in the second half for Chris Green sealed the game for Doncaster. The first saw him push off four defenders on his way to the line, the second was a little easier, but again came as Skolars coughed up possession. Adam Scott also made a strong run for the Dons, but the defence was quick to swoop.
Ade Adebisi might have collected a hat-trick, but good defence forced him into touch feet from the line for the first, then forward passes from Skee and May to the winger saw Skolars miss any chance of a comeback. The last of those errors was punished the most severely, with a break from the ensuing scrum leading to a 70 metre Stu Sanderson run to the tryline.
After Ade Adebisi clashed with the Don’s Dean Colton, a fight broke out on the touchline. The incident was put on report. Skolars had one piece of consolation on a bad day for the game in the capital with Austen Aggrey showing pace to the line to score against his old club. That try saw him move to within 2 tries of a half-century for the club.
LONDON SKOLARS
1 Neil Thorman
30 Olu Iwenofu
17 Dave Arnot
4 Luke May
5 Ade Adebisi
6 Jy-Mel Coleman
7 Dylan Skee
31 Austen Aggrey
9 Gareth Honor
10 Jason Hart
14 Jason Cook
15 Olly Purslow
13 Stephen Ball
Subs (all used)
23 Liam Prescott
8 Tony Williams
16 James Simon
35 Cariern Clement-Pascall
Tries: May (2), Hart (12), Honor (14), Aggrey (73)
Goals: N Thorman 3/4
Sending off: Mbu (73) – fighting
DONCASTER
1 Mick Butterfield
5 Dean Colton
4 Shaun Leaf
30 Nev Morrison
2 Stu Sanderson
7 Craig Fawcett
19 Scott Spaven
20 Jamie Bovill
13 Jack Ely
17 Adam Scott
29 Chris Green
12 Ryan Steen
16 Mike Emmett
Subs (all used)
9 Kyle Kesik
15 Craig Robinson
22 Carl Hughes
8 Matt Carbutt
Tries: Spaven (7,36), Butterfield (19), Steen (26), Green (43,56), Sanderson (63)
Goals: Spaven 7/7
Sending off: Williams (73) – fighting
Penalty count: 4-5
Half-time: 16-24
Referee: Peter Brooke
Attendance: 326
The Mall Wood Green man of the match: Austen Aggrey
SCORING SEQUENCE: 4-0, 4-6, 10-6, 16-6, 16-12, 16-18, 16- 24, 16-30, 16-36, 16-42, 22-42
