The London Skolars Juniors and Mini’s kicked off an impressive weekend for the club, with some great results. Saturday saw a busy day of RL at New River, with the U16’s, U14’s and U12’s all at home.
The U16’s produced another improved performance against a strong side from Charlton. Head coach Paul Thorman has been working hard with the young squad all season and there have been huge signs of improvement week on week. Building on last Sunday’s good performance against the Gloucestershire All Golds the U16’s showed glimpses of class but unfortunately just couldn’t close the game out, the score eventually finishing 32-20 in favour of the boys from Charlton. Skolars tries came through a brace from exciting fullback Jerome Yates and another 2 from second row Shay Osinaike, with half back Ethan Renny goaling 2.
The U19’s travelled to a windy Barking and Dagenham in an attempt to make amends for the previous fixture where the Bulldogs came away from New River with a well-deserved win. The Skolars once again looked in a determined mood and struck early through David Ogufere. However Barking were not fazed and the scores at half-time were even at 12 points all. Skolars unlike in previous games were managing to complete sets and forcing Barking into repeat sets and this paid dividends as the Skolars scored another 3 tries through Conrad Edgar and Robbie Jarvis, with David Ogufere adding to his first half score. As the match went into the last 10, Skolars were finishing the stronger and two tries from the impressive Sayed Kapaka meant the game finished up with the Skolars victorious 30-18. The U19’s go into the final two league games of the season, top of the table and in a confident mood with a potential league decider coming up on the 6th July at home to Eastern Rhinos.
Back at New River, it was a difficult day at the office for both the U14’s and U12’s against strong opposition in Elmbridge Eagles and Charlton Gunners respectively. Neither Skolars team could manage to get over that whitewash with both opponents providing stern defence and an impressive array of skills in attack. The U14’s lost 36-0 and the U12’s 44-0. Both teams will pick themselves up for the final push for the playoffs in the next two weeks.
Finally the Mini’s section travelled to the penultimate festival of their season this year at St Albans. Once again Skolars entered sides at U7’s, U9’s and U11’s and once more the youngest of our junior section provided a great source of entertainment to the watching supporters. The U7’s were the pick of the bunch, winning 6 out of their 7 games. With the U9’s and U11’s performing equally as well to snatch a few wins. There was some good game understanding across all age-groups and all teams played with a strong defensive attitude, coupled by some individual brilliance in attack. Next week they travel to the London Primary RL Championships in good spirits and with the hope of bringing back some silverware to New River.
