Betfred League1 – 28 April 2019
Hunslet 24 London Skolars 42
Skolars made it three wins on the trot after travelling to South Leeds and beating a Hunslet side that was top of the league before the game.
Hunslet took advantage of an early penalty, swinging the ball to the left before a delayed pass by Danny Nicklas opened the defence for Josh Tonks to score on the left. After Skolars conceded another penalty, it took a strong tackle by Lameck Juma to stop Gareth Potts on the other wing.
Skolars’ first try also came after Hunslet conceded a penalty, with Richard Wilkinson racing onto Joe Brown’s pass. They took the lead five minutes late. Starting a set on halfway after a Hunslet kick had ricocheted off Neil Thorman, Skolars’ kick on the sixth tackle also took a deflection and James Barran was alert to the opportunity to pick up the ball to score.
They then had to withstand a long period of attack by Hunslet. Alan Robinson lost the ball just before the tryline, Tom Ashton was held up over the line and Lamont Bryan managed to bundle up Reece Dean before he could pass the ball out on the sixth tackle. However, the home side levelled the scores with a break by Ben Heaton being continued by Potts before he passed back to Heaton, with Dean converting.
The visitors took the lead again when Wilkinson made a break before kicking for Joe Brown to touchdown. With Mike Bishay off for head impact assessment and James Barran off injured, Skolars had to regroup and it wasn’t surprising when Hunslet were able to score again when a Tonks break was finished by Jimmy Watso. Dean missed the conversion from the touchline, but Skolars had to defend again when they kicked out on the ful. They held out to go in 16-18 up at half-time.
Skolars started the second half with some strong running from the forwards before a high kick from Wilkinson was palmed back by Rob Tuilatu for Thorman to score before adding his fourth conversion. He kicked a penalty goal five minutes later. They went further ahead two minutes later when Craig Mullen passed the ball over the heads of the defence for Brown to score his second try of the afternoon. Iliess Macani went over on the right wing after Tuliatu had made a break with Neil Thorman kicking his seventh goal of the afternoon.
Another Skolars’ break, this time by Lamont Bryan saw Mullen again get the ball out wide, this time to Lameck Juma. Hunslet finally stopped the onslaught when Marcus Webb touched-down after some loose passes saw Skolars’ defence slip for the first time in the second half. Hunslet scored a late try when Robinson forced his way over, but Skolars were still comfortably ahead and were soon able to celebrate a memorable win.
Skolars have a break next weekend, before taking on North Wales Crusaders at New River on 11 May.
HUNSLET
1 Jimmy Watson
2 Gareth Potts
3 Tom Ashton
4 Ben Heaton
25 Marcus Webb
21 Reece Dean
22 Danny Nicklas
25 Jon Luke Kirby
9 Jack Lee
10 Alan Robinson
11 Josh Tonks
23 Nathan Chappell
13 Mike Emmett
Subs (all used)
14 Ryan Wright
15 Michael Haley
16 Zach Braham
20 Vila Halfihi
Tries: Tonks (4) Heaton (21), Watson (38), Webb (68), Robinson (71)
Goals: Dean 2/2, Nicklas 0/1, Chappell 1/1
LONDON SKOLARS
1 Joe Brown
2 Iliess Macani
3 Craig Mullen
4 Jacob Ogden
5 Lameck Juma
6 James Barran
14 Richard Wilkinson
13 Liam Scott
9 Neil Thorman
10 Malikhi Lloyd-Jones
11 Jordan Williams
12 Rinaldo Palumbo
7 Mike Bishay
Subs (all used)
20 Lamont Bryan
16 Jon Magrin
17 Robert Tuliatu
4 Omari Caro
Tries: Wilkinson (10), Barran (15), Brown (25,48), Thorman (41), Macani (54), Juma (64)
Goals: Thorman 7/8
Penalty count: 12-5
Half-time: 16-18
Referee: Aaron Smith
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 6-6, 6-12, 12-12, 12-18, 16-18, 16-24, 16-26, 16-32, 16-38, 16-42, 20-42, 26-42
