With a three week gap since their last pre-season friendly, Skolars came up against a strong Batley side and the infamous Mount Pleasant slope.
The side played up the slope it the first half and although they had some good possession early on with Lamont Bryan brushing aside tackles to get Skolars close to the line, when Gareth Potts intercepted to score for the home side, it was the first of seven tries in the first half.
The second try came from Paul Mennell, who broke through the defence with ease. Danny Maun then added two tries in quick succession, the second a move down the blind side from a scrum.
They extended their lead when Ian Preece caught a kick deep in his own half and swept past the defence to score. Further tries for Kris Lythe and Ben Black added to the agony, the latter coming seconds before the hooter sounded.
Batley won the competition two years ago and are used to coping with playing up the severe slope. Indeed they opened the scoring through Gareth Moore. However, Skolars started to attack with more confidence and got onto the scoreboard when Ade Adebisi jumped high to take an Andy McLean kick to touchdown.
Then Matt Thomas followed up another kick through to score Skolars’ second try. Danny Mills scored in similar fashion at the other end, before Martyn Smith gathered up a Skee grubber to score on his competitive debut for the club.
The game also featured competitive debuts for Lameck Juma, Andy McLean, Louis Robinson and Alex Bate. Juma became the 250th player to appear for the first team since the club entered the professional ranks in 2003.
BATLEY
1 Ian Preece
2 Gareth Potts
3 Jason Walton
4 Danny Maun
5 Danny Mills
6 Ben Black
7 Gareth Moore
8 Bryon Smith
9 Paul Mennell
10 Luke Menzies
11 Adam Scott
12 John Walker
13 Kris Lythe
Subs (all used)
14 Chris Buttery
15 Keegan Hirst
16 Mark Applegarth
17 Ash Lindsey
Tries: Potts (7), Mennell (13), Maun (19,23), Preece (27), Lythe(30), Black (40), Moore (51), Mills (70)
Goals: Moore 6/8, Mennell 1/1
LONDON SKOLARS
1 James Anthony
2 Ade Adebisi
3 John Paxton
4 Joe Price
5 Lameck Juma
6 Andy McLean
7 Dylan Skee
8 Rob Thomas
9 Neil Thorman
10 David Williams
11 Matt Thomas
12 Ben Bolger
13 Lamont Bryan
Subs (all used)
14 Olly Purslow
15 Louis Robinson
16 Martyn Smith
17 Alex Bate
Tries: Adebisi (58), M Thomas (64), Smith (79)
Goals: Skee 1/2, McLean 1/1
Penalty count: 6-10
Half-time: 40-0
Referee: Warren Turley
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 12-0, 16-0, 22-0, 28-0, 34-0, 40-0, 46-0, 46-6, 46-10, 50-10, 50-16
