BetFred League 1 – 29 June 2019
London Skolars 6 Whitehaven 28
Skolars played top of the table Whitehaven for the second time in five weeks, the Cumbrian side again running out comfortable winners, as Skolars failed to make the most of the chances that they did have.
Skolars had three players making their debut, Jamaican international Mo Agoro coming in on loan from Newcastle Thunder along with Joe Shorrocks and Harry Smith on dual registration from Wigan Warriors. Shorrocks made his Super League debut earlier this season, whilst Smith was one of the stand-out players for England Schoolboys against Australia last autumn.
On a sweltering day, it was something of a sluggish game, with the second half taking almost an hour to complete as a result of the number of stoppages for cramp and minor knocks, as well as the need to take on water.
Whitehaven had the better of the early stages, forcing a goal-line drop-out after two consecutive sets close to the Skolars’ line. Nevertheless, they chose to kick for goal when they were awarded a penalty. Four minutes later they scored their first try, with Kris Coward running onto Callum Phillip’s kick. Dan Hindmarsh was stopped close to the Haven line in Skolars’ first real attacking move.
When Skolars were awarded a penalty a few minutes later, they decided to run it, but lost possession on the second tackle. There were some strong runs from Lamont Bryan, but Skolars had to a lot of defending, with the Greenhalgh twins both putting in long stints.
The Cumbrians extended their lead when Iliess Macani couldn’t get to a high kick from Sam Forrester, who followed up to regather the ball to score. Haven forced another goal-line drop-out soon afterwards and the resulting set saw Dave Thompson go over in the right corner. Conor Holliday’s conversion attempt bounced back off the crossbar, but his side were 0-18 up at half-time.
An error by Whitehaven after receiving the second half kick-off saw Lameck Juma push his way under the defence on the left, with Harry Smith converting.
However, Haven responded quickly, with Phillips’ pass finding Holliday in space on the left. Another tap penalty by Skolars saw another dropped ball and they had to defend again. They conceded another goal-line drop-out, but Harry Smith’s kick from under the posts found touch ten metres into the visitors’ half. Skolars couldn’t make that field position count and the visitors scored again when Callum Phillips slipped past a tiring defence.
Dave Thompson was sin-binned for a trip with two minutes remaining, but it was too late to make any difference to the result.
LONDON SKOLARS
2 Iliess Macani
20 Mo Agoro
3 Jordan Williams
4 Lameck Juma
5 Omari Caro
6 Mike Bishay
7 Harry Smith
10 Judd Greenhalgh
9 Neil Thorman
22 Mike Greenhalgh
1 Joe Shorrocks
12 Ronnie Palumbo
13 Dan Hindmarsh
Subs (all used)
14 Matt Davies
14 Lamont Bryan
16 Rob Tuliatu
17 Liam Scott
Tries: Juma (42)
Goals: Smith 1/1
WHITEHAVEN
2 Jordan Burns
5 David Thompson
3 Chris Taylor
23 Jason Mossop
19 Andrew Bulman
1 Sam Forrester
7 Callum Phillips
8 Marc Shackley
14 Sam Dowsett
10 Kris Coward
25 Kurt Maudling
15 Connor Holliday
13 Tom Wilkinson
Subs (all used)
6 Dion Aiye
24 Ethan Kelly
9 James Newton
18 Jordan Thomson
Tries: Coward (15), Forrester (33), D Thompson (37), Holliday (47), Phillips (70)
Goals: Holliday 4/6
Sin-bin: D Thompson (78) – tripping opponent
Penalty count: 8-7
Half-time: 0-18
Referee: John McMullen
Attendance: 442
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-2, 0-8, 0-14, 0-18; 6-18, 6-22, 6-28
