Kingstone Press League 1
Rochdale Hornets 40 London Skolars 12
Skolars travelled to Rochdale and, though they in the game up to the hour mark, the Hornets showed why they are top of the league. Matt Lambert took charge of the side on the day, with Head Coach Jermaine Coleman recovering from his recent knee operation.
Despite losing possession from the kick-off, Skolars made a good start, Mike Bishay’s grubber kick being just too long for Sam Nash to reach. A quick play-the-ball by Ben Pointer set up Dave Williams to break the defensive line before offloading for Lameck Juna to score in his first game for three seasons. Mike Bishay converting.
He had the chance to put Skolars further ahead, but Skolars decided to run a penalty close to the line. They didn’t score and Hornets counterattacked, with former Skolars Danny Yates losing his footing 10 metres from the line. However, with Skolars on the backfoot the home side moved the ball to the right for Jordan Case to touchdown. Paul Crook’s conversion hit the upright then bounced off the cross bar for a lucky conversion.
With five minutes of the half remaining Crook ran the ball on the sixth tackle and took the Skolars’ defence by surprise, strolling over the tryline and adding the goal to put Rochdale 12-6 up at half-time. They went further ahead soon after when Alex McClurg pushed his way under three defenders to score from dummy half.
Skolars cameback with the help of a penalty in their own half which Jy-Mel Coleman kicked to touch 50 metres downfield. Quick passing from Mike Bishay gave Kazeem Faturoti a glimpse of the line and there was no stopping his way over it and Skolars were just 6 points.
However, two tries in three minutes put the game out of reach. Twice Yates kicked to his left wing and although neither winger could hold the ball, Jono Smith was in support to pick up close to the line both times. With the game starting to get niggly, Skolars found themselves on a team warning for conceded persistent penalties for the second time in the half. When Crook made a break after picking up a loose ball, it was the mercurial Wayne English who scored the home side’s sixth try.
The final score was more lobsided than it might have been, Skolars trying to keep the ball moving after the final hooter, losing possession for Chris Riley to pick up and score an easy try in the corner.
Hornets
1 Wayne English
5 Dale Bloomfield
3 Michale Ratu
4 Lewis Galbraith
2 Chris Riley
3 Simon Atherton
6 Paul Crook
7 Danny Yates
15 Samir Tahouroui
9 Ben Moores
10 Warren Thompson
11 Jono Smith
28 Jordan Case
13 James Tilley
Subs (all used)
14 Alex McClurg
16 Matty Hadden
12 Stuart Biscomb
15 Alex Trumper
Tries: Case (25), Crook (35), McClurg (45), Smityh (61,64), English (76), Riley (80)
Goals: Crook 6/7
London Skolars
1 Alex Antony
2 Sam Nash
3 Aaron Small
4 Lameck Juma
5 John Paxton
18 Jy-Mel Coleman
7 Mike Bishay
11 Toby Everett
9 Ben Pointer
23 Ben Gray
10 David Williams
13 Eddie Mbaraga
12 Ryan Chester
Subs (all used)
8 Michael Sykes
19 Erjon Dollapi
16 Kazeem Faturoti
14 Billy Driver
Tries: Juma (13) Faturoti (55)
Goals: Bishay 2/2
Penalty count: 14-7
Half-time: 12-6
Referee: Sam Ansell
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 6-6, 12-6, 18-6, 18-12, 24-12, 30-12, 36-12, 40-12
