BetFred League1
Doncaster 23 London Skolars 22
Skolars lost by a single point for the second week running, leaving their chances of a play-off spot depending on winning both their last two games and Workington losing both of theirs.
Things looked grim midway through the first half at the Keepmoat Stadium, with Skolars having conceded three tries. The first saw Matty Beharrell finish off a Jordan Howden break, soon followed by Sam Doherty going over in the right corner. Then Skolars tried to catch a ball going into touch, conceding a scrum close to their tryline, with Russ Spiers barging over between the posts.
They pulled their way back in contention before half-time. Richard Wilkinson evaded the defence to score against his old club, then he ran the ball on the sixth tackle to release Guy Armitage for a try wide out right. Neil Thorman added his second conversion to leave his side 16-12 at half-time.
They had chances to level the scores after the restart. Armitage was held short, with Iliess Macani held over the line on the same set of six. Then Jy-Mel Coleman put in a high kick to the wing, but Armitage couldn’t quite catch it cleanly. Doncaster broke from their own half for Beharrell to offload to former England international Rangi Chase to score under the posts, with Beharrell adding his third conversion of the afternoon.
Armitage added his second thy when he scrambled over in the corner. It was a fine debut for Skolars on loan from London Broncos having recently switched from Rugby Union where he’s played in the Premiership and the Championship for the last eight seasons.
Skolars forced Sam Doherty into touch and then swung the ball out to the right where Armitage completed his hat-trick. With the scores level, Thorman missed a difficult touchline conversion.
The last eight minutes of the game saw both sides trying to get the decisive score. Skolars were looking for a try, but lost the ball close to the Doncaster line. The Dons raced to halfway and were then well set for a drop-goal, with Beharrell slotting the ball between the posts with two minutes remaining.
Skolars tried a short kick-off but couldn’t win possession, Doncaster played out their six tackles leaving the visitors deep in their own half and the hooter sounded leaving them disappointed again.
DONCASTER
6 Jordan Howden
5 Sam Doherty
3 Connor Bower
4 Jason Tali
19 Matty Chrimes
33 Rangi Chase
7 Matty Beharrell
14 Connor Scott
9 Kyle Kesik
8 Russ Spiers
26 Evan Hodgson
22 Brad Foster
13 Jordie Hedges
Subs (all used)
30 Watson Boas
17 Brandon Douglas
25 Stefanos Bastas
12 Frankie Mariano
Tries: Beharrell (9), Doherty (13), Spiers (22), Chase (51)
Goals: Beharrell 3/4
Drop-goal: Beharrell
LONDON SKOLARS
2 Iliess Macani
5 Elliot Jennings
3 Guy Armitage
4 Lameck Juma
1 Jerome Yates
14 Richard Wilkinson
17 Jy-Mel Coleman
21 Dan Hindmarsh
9 Neil Thorman
10 Judd Greenhalgh
12 Ronnie Palumbo
11 Jordan Williams
13 Rob Tuliatu
Subs
7 Mike Bishay
16 Lamont Bryan
15 Jon Magrin
20 Matt Davies
Tries: Wilkinson (25), Armitage (29, 62, 72)
Goals: Thorman 3/4
Penalty count: 3-8
Half-time: 16-12
Referee: Steve Race
Attendance: 585
SCORING SEQUENCE: 4-0, 10-0, 16-0, 16-6, 16-12, 22-12, 22-18, 22-22, 23-22
