After last week’s encouraging performance at North Wales, Skolars suffered a mauling at the hand of Coventry Bears, leaving them rooted in the bottom two of League 1.
It was Coventry Bears’ first away win since entering the league at the start of this season; Skolars last won at home 11 months ago.
An error from the kick-off saw Skolars concede a goal-line drop out, but they then forced an error when they kicked at the end of their first set. Starting 10 metres from the tryline they moved the ball to the right for Matt Cook who dived to just reach the line, Sam Druce adding the conversion.
Skolars missed out on two good attacking chances with errors deep in the visitors’ territory, but it was the Bears all the way after picking up a loose ball on 10 metres out, Cameron Boulter continuing the break for Richie Hughes to touchdown. The introduction of Tom Hall from the bench saw thev visitors draw the defence in at the tackles, allowing their pacy backs to find gaps. The next two tries saw Coventry capitalise on Skolars’ errors. Jimmy Morgan misjudged a kick to the corner and Ben Parry took advantage to get to the loose ball in the in-goal area. Then confusion on Skolars’ right saw a gap open for Jamahl Hunte who chipped and regathered to score.
Two minutes later, Coventry went further ahead when Matt Cooper sliced through the defence. There was still time for two more tries before the break. Dan Parker chipped-kicked and plucked the ball out of the air before James Anthony could get to the ball. Then he received the ball from the scrum and strode over the line with seconds remaining.
Skolars pushed harder in the second half, Billy Driver going over from dummy half early on. Marcus Elilott converted, taking over the kicking duties from Druce,. On the next set he attempted a 40-20 to try to bring the side back into the game, but the ball went out on the full and it took a good cover tackle from James Anthony to hold Richie Hughes up over the tryline.
Skolars next attack finished wthi a Mike Bishay kick, but the chasers didn’t stop Andy Whitfield, who took the ball on his 30 metre line and went straight through the on-coming defence. Skolars kicked out on the full on the restart, but when Cook scored his second try of the afternoon there was still a very faint possibility of a comeback. A good run from Aaron Smalll saw Jimmy Morgan go in at the corner with time starting to run out, Coventry re-asserted themselves with a try that summed up the afternoon. Skolars dropped the ball on their own 20 metre line, waiting for the whistle whilst Reece Chapman-Carry gathered up the ball and went over the line with ease, Parker kicking his seventh goal of the day.
London Skolars
1 James Anthony
2 Jimmy Morgan
3 Matt Cook
4 Aaron Small
5 John Paxton
7 Marcus Elliott
6 Mike Bishay
8 Michael Sykes
9 Sam Druce
10 David Williams
11 Will Lovell
12 Carieren Clement-Pascall
13 Lamont Bryan
Subs (all used)
15 Billy Driver
24 Lewis Reed
22 Louis Robinson
!4 Kazeem Faturoti
Tries: Cook (4,61), Driver (46), Morgan (58)
Goals: Druce1/2, Elliott 1/2
Coventry Bears
28 Andy Winfield
20 Jamahl Hunte
5 Ben Parry
13 Simon Phillips
41 Reece Chapman-Carry
7 Caneron Boulter
30 Dan Parker
27 James Guertjens
24 Richie Hughes
46 Jack Francis
12 Chris Barratt
29 Liam Thompson
26 Matt Cooper
Subs (all used)
21 Stephen Coleman
50 Morgan Evans
38 Tom Hall
32 Kenny Kelliher
Tries: Hughes (16), Parry (19), Hunte (28), Cooper (30), Parker (35,40), Whitfield (53), Chapman-Carry (73)
Goals: Parker 7/8
Scoring Sequence: 6-0. 6-6, 6-12, 6-18, 6-24, 6-30, 6-34, 12-34, 12-40, 16-40, 20-40, 20-46
Penalty count: 7-9
Half-time: 6-34
Referee: Scott Mikalauskas
Attendance: 259
