A good Saturday was had by all our Junior teams this week as 2 out of the 3 came away with comprehensive victories in the 4th round of the London Junior League.
Our U17’s continued their development this year with a fantastic victory away at Richmond Warriors. An explosive start from the Skolars, saw them race into a 26-0 lead, with Richmond struggling to match the Skolars physical approach to the game. Buoyed by the return of second year’s Dillon Adabie and Jerome Yates and well marshalled by half-back combination Alex Pentecost and Tom Hamer, the Skolars really managed the contact well and found a lot of joy in the middle of the park with some powerful runs from new-comer Sam Glossop and Ben Woodward. On the edges they were just as dangerous, with Nicky Freeman producing some great breaks which winger Jordan Rhoden finished off comfortably, showing great pace to outrun the desperate defence.
To Richmond’s credit they worked hard to turn the momentum of the game and hit back with 3 tries of their own to take the halftime score to 26-14. A tired Skolars side would have been glad to see the half-time whistle and a few fiery words from coaches Fred Pentecost and Matt Cuss saw the boys from North London come out with a renewed energy and focus in the 2nd half, running in 22 unanswered points to finish the game with a 48-14 victory. Taking them to joint 2nd in what is proving to be a very competitive U17 league.
Our young U13’s made the short journey to St Albans Centurion’s where they were undone by a few outstanding individual performances from the St Alban’s lads. This young team is very much on a development pathway at the moment, and with 21 players in the squad this weekend, with another 6 or 7 missing it bodes extremely well for the rest of the season.
Performance of the day went to our table-topping U15’s side led by long serving coach Ian Ackley and his assistant Sean Scott, as they beat Brentwood Eels 40-22. The Eels started the better of the 2 sides, and showed why they were positioned 2nd in league coming into the game. They raced into a 16-0 lead and it took some real effort from the Skolars to cross for 2 tries, which gave them a chance going into the 2nd half.
Like their U17 counter-parts, a half-time team-talk and break seemed to galvanise the Skolars and they were like a different team in the 2nd period. Upping their work-rate in defence and attack, with some outstanding individual efforts, they scored 30 points in the second half and only conceded the solitary try, ensuring they left Brentwood with a superb victory and pulled clear at the top of the London Junior League.
Next week see’s London Junior League Cup action return to New River as the U17’s host Eastern Rhinos and the U13’s travel to Richmond Warriors.
