Skolars started their pre-season warm-up games with a high scoring draw against the Under 20s side from Super League club London Broncos.
Coach Joe Mbu used the game to give opportunities to several youngsters and no-one took their chance to shine better than Jack Clover, intercepting a pass and racing 40 metres to score in his first game out of the Skolars’ Under 18s side.
The game also divided into three distinct periods, the opening period close, followed by total domination by Skolars, with the Broncos’ youngsters showing great spirit to comeback in the final third.
Pre-season games are often an opportunity to dust off the cobwebs and get the mistakes out of the way before the real action. Certainly, Skolars won’t want to repeat the mistake they made early on, with a play the ball at the handover being played without a dummy half to take it, Broncos pounced for Miles McCloud to score.
Skolars levelled when Chris McNamara slipped the ball inside to John Paxton. French debutant Yann Rousseau put Skolars ahead. Lameck Juma displayed his power in forcing his way over on the wing, showing why his secondary position is at prop.
Broncos responded when Oscar Thomas showed his pace at the other end. Rob Thomas was unstoppable from short range to give the visitors an 18-14 lead at the first break.
The second period saw Skolars dominate. Smokie Junor picked up a dropped pass to score. Then Paxton added a second try, before setting up Junor for his second. Will Colleran finished off a passing move to touchdown on the right to give Skolars a 34-18 at the second interval.
Broncos weren’t giving up and two quick tries for Jack Molloy and Sam Bolger pulled the score back. Clover’s try gave Skolars an 8 point lead, but two more converted Broncos’ tries saw them take a 4 point lead. With seconds remaining Skolars threw the ball across the field, Olly Purslow finding a gap to crash over in the corner to level the scores.
Dylan Skee missed a difficult conversion and with five players being tried for kicking duties, Mbu won’t be any clearer on his first choice with just 3 successful kicks out of 9 attempts.
LONDON SKOLARS
1 John Paxton
2 Lameck Juma
3 Chris McNamara
4 Joe Price
5 Smokie Junor
6 Yann Rousseau
7 James Anthony
8 Oliver Bloom
9 Neil Thorman
10 Olly Purslow
11 Tala Petelo
12 Jaroslaw Obuchowski
13 Andrew Higgins
Subs (all used)
14 Will Colleran
15 Dave Arnot
16 Matt Thomas
17 Martyn Smith
18 Dion Chapman
19 Andy McLean
20 Louis Sutherland
21 David Williams
22 Dylan Skee
23 Jack Clover
24 Aaron Small
Tries: Paxton (13,44), Rousseau (18), Juma (22), Junor (33,50), Colleran (58), Colver (74), Purslow (90)
Goals: Thorman 1/3, Rousseau 1/1, Smith 1/3, McLean 0/1, Skee 0/1
BRONCOS
1 Keiran Dixon
2 Omari Caro
3 Mike Channing
4 Mason Caton Brown
5 Alex Anthony
6 Oscar Thomas
7 Mick Bishay
8 Rob Thomas
9 Sam Bolger
10 Erjun Dolapi
11 Ryan Dowsett
12 Miles McCloud
13 Lamont Bryan
Subs (all used)
14 Shaun Keen
15 Jimmy Morgan
16 Ben Shears
17 Jack Molly
18 Gavin Hyder
19 Anthony Cox
20 Aqui Mansilla
Tries: McCloud (8), O Thomas (25,79), R Thomas (30), Molloy (67), Bolger (71), Bishay (81)
Goals: O Thomas 7/7
Penalty count: 10-5
1/3-time: 14-18
2/3 time: 34-18
Referee: Dave Sharpe
Attendance: 216
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 6-6, 10-6, 14-6, 14-12, 14-18, 20-18, 26-18, 30-18, 34-18, 34-24, 34-30, 38-30, 38-36, 38-42,42-42
