Skolars gained a valuable bonus point at Spotland, but will rue a disappointing first half that saw them trail to 24-6 at half-time to Rochdale, fighting back in the second half to finish on the wrong side of the 32-24 final scoreline.
The rain over the Pennines made handling difficult, but the home side were able to take advantage of several Skolars’ errors, giving them an early 12 point lead with tries from Dave Llewellyn and Chris Baines. Skolars responded and were rewarded when Will Lovell, on loan from London Broncos touched down midway through the first half.
However, Hornets added a further two tries before the break, through Joe Greenwood and Dominic Speakman, both of whom were on-loan from St Helens.
Skolars cameback after the restart. Quick passing across the line gave Smokie Junor a gap to score in the corner and he added a second when he followed up a high kick from Dylan Skee, which bounced around the in-goal area.
Dave Hull scored for Hornets to take the margin to 12 points again, but when Erjon Dollapi forced his way over the line on the hour and Skee kicked his fourth conversion, Skolars were back in the game.
However, they couldn’t make further inroads into the home side’s defence and Rochdale made sure of their win with a Gareth Langley penalty, but the second half performance will give Skolars confidence ahead of their last 16 game in the Northern Rail Cup against Whitehaven on Sunday.
HORNETS
1 Wayne English
2 Gareth Langley
16 Danny Davies
23 Dave Hull
17 Martin Waring
6 Paul Crook
7 Steven Roper
29 Carl Forster
31 Chris Hough
8 John Cookson
11 Chris Baines
26 Dave Llewellyn
30 Joe Greenwood
Subs (all used)
32 Dominic Speakman
22 Mike Ratu
26 Warren Thompson
10 Jordan Hand
Tries: Llewellyn (3), Baines (22), Greenwood (27), Speakman (31), Hull (51)
Goals: Crook 3/3, Langley 3/3
LONDON SKOLARS
1 James Anthony
2 Smokie Junor
29 Alex Hurst
4 John Paxton
5 Ade Adebisi
27 Andy McLean
7 Dylan Skee
25 Erjon Dollapi
9 Martyn Smith
8 Rob Thomas
10 David Williams
12 Mike Worrincy
13 Olly Purslow
Subs (all used)
26 Evan Simons
30 Michael Sykes
16 Louis Robinson
28 Will Lovell
Tries: Lovell (21), Junor (42,50), Dollapi (62)
Goals: Skee 4/4
Penalty count: 4-4
Half-time: 24-6
Referee: Dave Merrick
Attendance: 523
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 12-0, 12-6, 18-6, 24-6, 24-12, 26-14, 24-18, 30-18, 30-24, 32-24
