Having beaten the 2009 Harry Jepson Trophy winners last week, Skolars ‘A’ recorded a victory against the 2010 winners, withstanding a late comeback to run out 29-26 victors against St. Albans Centurions.
Skolars raced into an early lead with a try from Matthew Ings. That was followed soon afterwards when Saqib Murtza used his power to crash over the line.
St Albans made the most of the slope, two tries bringing the score back to 10 all, but Skolars scored two important tries before half-time. First Ings proved unstoppable from close range for his second try and when Jason Cook finished a move on the left, Skolars were 18-10 up at the break.
Whilst the rains held off during the game, downpours earlier in the day left the ground and the ball slippery and neither side was able to hold onto possession with any great regularity.
Smokie Junor showed his pace to break through the line. In difficult conditions, Danny Burke slotted over his second conversion of the day. Then Graeme Spencer, making a welcome return after a long injury lay-off, nipped over from dummy half to make the scoreline 28-10.
St Albans pulled a converted try back, but Burke went for a drop goal with Skolars’ next attack. That one point proved to be vital when St Albans scored again. With second remaining, the Centurions went over for their fifth try. However, they still 3 points behind, and the conversion went wide.
Despite having joined the division after the first five rounds, Skolars ‘A’ still have an outside chance of making the top 4 play-offs. They need to win both their remaining games, with Eastern Rhinos playing at Perth Road next Saturday and West London Sharks playing the curtain raiser at New River on 30 July, prior to the Co-operative Championship 1 game against Swinton Lions.
