BetFred League 1 – 16th July 2021
London Skolars 16 Doncaster 16
Skolars earned a point against promotion chasing Doncaster, despite being without player coach Jermaine Coleman on the field after he failed a late fitness test. The game was Skolars’ annual Friday Night Lights game, played the evening before the Challenge Cup Final at Wembley and a good contingent of that crowd were entertained on a hot night.
Doncaster took an early lead afer Ben Johnson broke the defence 20 metres out, Sam Smeaton supporting to finish the move. Skolars levelled the scores with a similar move, this time Neil Thorman backing up to touchdown after Jacob Thomas edged past the defence.
With Abevia Mcdonald coming into the side for Coleman and making his first team debut,having come up through Skolars’ junior sides, Doncaster started by putting him under pressure with kicks to his wing. However, showed why he is in the Jamaican train-on squad taking the ball well and showing great pace including one run to half-way that the Dons did well to stop. Their kicking strategy changed after that.
Skolars took the lead when Thomas moved the ball out to the right, Aaron Small forcing his way through the defence. Two penalties in quick succession saw Doncaster put pressure on at the other end, but Smeaton lost the ball close to the line.
A high tackle on Jacob Thomas five metres from the Don’s line saw tempers flare late in the half. The hooter sounded before the officials had consulted, the referee awarding a penalty which Neil Thorman slotted over to give his side a 12-6 lead at the break. Doncaster would not have been worrying at that point, having turned a similar deficit in the game at the Keepmoat into a 40 point win.
However, the Londoners extended the lead with another Thorman penalty. Doncaster narrowed the gap when Matty Beharrell floated a long pass out to the left for Sam Doherty, though those in the stand in line with the action felt it was forward. Beharrell’s conversion hit the posts; a miss that turned out to be important.
Tempers flared again when Jerome Yates mistimed his challenge on Ben Howe he went for a high ball in attack. The full-back joined the attacking line on the right to touchdown in the resulting set. This time Beharrell’s kick was successful putting the Dons into the lead for the first time in the match.
Whilst Skolars were regularly having to start their sets within ten metres of their own line, Doncaster were piling on the pressure when they enjoyed possession, but Skolars’ defence kept holding out. Smeaton went closest, taking the ball from dummy half on the last tackle, but couldn’t get through. Skolars once again had to kick from their own half at the end of the next set, but a late shot on Thomas saw a penalty given where the ball landed and Thorman wasn’t going to miss from ten metres out.
In the last five minutes, Doncaster had two drop-goal chances, the first was charged down, the second going wide and Skolars were relieved to have ended a home losing run going back to June 2019.
LONDON SKOLARS
1 Iliess Macani
2 Omari Caro
4 Dalton Grant
3 Aaron Small
5 Jerome Yates
11 Abevia Mcdonald
6 Jacob Thomas
18 Matt Ross
9 Neil Thorman
21 Lamont Bryan
12 Chris Ball
15 Paulos Latu
19 Mike Greenhalgh
Subs (all used)
14 Louis Singleton
8 Judd Greenhalgh
10 Alex Davidson
13 Christian Gale
Tries: Thomas (16), Small (32)
Goals: Thorman 4/5
DONCASTER
20 Ben Howe
5 Sam Doherty
3 Sam Smeaton
28 Misi Taulapapa
18 Tom Halliday
1 Ben Johnson
7 Matty Beharrell,
10 Brandon Douglas
26 Ross Whitmore
15 Ryan Boyle
12 Brad Foster
27 Aaron York
22 Alex Holdstock
Subs (all used)
23 Liam Johnson
29 Anesu Mudoti
10 Aaron Ollet-Hobson
17 Ross Peltier
Tries: Smeaton (8), Doherty (52), Howe (62)
Goals: Beharrell 2/3
Penalty count: 5-6
Half-time: 12-6
Referee: Matt Rossleigh
Att: 575
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 6-6, 10-6,12-6; 14-6, 14-10, 14-16, 16-16
