Betfred League 1 – 25 May 2019
Whitehaven 32 London Skolars 6
The game between the two sides at the top of the league went the say of Whitehaven, despite Skolars leading for most of the first half.
There were no early signs of the effects of the eight hour journey to the Cumbrian coast when Skolars took the lead in the seventh minute. Coach Jermaime Coleman played for the first time this season and it was his kick though the Whitehaven defence that Liam Scott ran onto to touchdown under the posts, with Neil Thorman adding the conversion.
Whitehaven put pressure on at the other end, but Marc Shackley lost the ball in a tackle on the tryline. The home side twice failed to find the touchline with their penalty kicks, giving Skolars opportunity to attack into Haven’s half, with some strong runs from Lamont Bryan and Rob Tuliatu. A deep kick from Jy-Mel Coleman returning for a fourth spell at the club, saw Iliess Macani race down the wing forcing the home side to concede a goal-line drop-out.
Skolars looked like they might keep the lead into half-time, but an error deep in their own half, when they thought they were playing advantage after Haven lost the ball, saw have to defend after a goal-line drop-out of their own and Papua New Guinean international Dion Aiye dived through the defence to score, with Liam Moore’s conversion levelling the scores at 6 all.
The Cumbrians also had a returning ex-player, Carl Foster making a comeback after a short spell at Rochdale and he made a big impact off the bench, putting his side into the lead when he went over on the right flank. Moore kicked the conversion and added a penalty four minutes later.
Skolars had a chance to narrow the gap, but Ronnie Palumbo lost the ball after a good move to the left. Whitehaven made certain of the win with two tries in four minutes. First James Newton spotted a gap in the Skolars’ left, then Aiye capitalised on a Skolars’ error for his second try of the evening.
A brawl four minutes from the end saw Skolars’ Robert Tuliatu and Haven’s Kris Coward sin-binned and, with Skolars starting to tire, Brett Phillips added another try for the home side.
WHITEHAVEN
3 Chris Taylor
2 Jordan Burns
23 Jason Mossop
15 Connor Holliday
19 Andrew Bulman
1 Sam Forrester
7Callum Phillips
8 Marc Shackley
14 Sam Dowsett
10 Kris Coward
12 Jake Moore
11 Brett Phillips
13 Tom Wilkinson
Subs (all used)
6 Dion Aiye
– Carl Forster
9 James Newton
18 Jordan Thomson
Tries: Aiye (39,71), Forster (51), Newton (67), Brett Phillips (78(
Goals: Moore 6/6
Sin-Bin: Coward (76) – fighting
LONDON SKOLARS
14 Richard Wilkinson
2 Iliess Macani
16 Rinaldo Palumbo
3 Craig Mullen
5 Elliot Jennings
6 James Barran
7 Jermaine Coleman
19 Will Martin
9 Neil Thorman
21 Liam Scott
11 Jordan Williams
20 Lamont Bryan
13 Robert Tuliatu
Subs (all used)
17 Jy-Mel Coleman
15 Malikhi Lloyd-Jones
16 Jon Magrin
22 Matt Ross
Tries: Scott (7)
Goals: Thorman 1/1
Sin-bin: Tuliatu (76)- fighting
Penalty count: 9-4
Half-time: 6-6
Referee: Johm McMullen
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 6-6, 6-12, 12-6, 14-6, 20-6, 26-26, 32-6
