Author-Andrew Jackson
BetFred League 1 – 30th July 2022
London Skolars 46
Cornwall 6
Six tries in the second gave Skolars an emphatic victory over the League 1 newcomers, with full-back Jarred Bassett scoring four tries.
The first half was closer, though Skolars missed chances to dominate. Two early penalties gave them a good position for attack, but Phil Lyon’s weaving run to the line was ruled out for obstruction. They then twice lost the ball early in the penalty count and then had to concede a goal-line drop-out. That gave the visitors good field position and Adam Rusling slipped through the defence to score under the posts, converting his own try.
The restart saw Skolars penalised for offside, Cole Connolly being stopped just short of the line for the resultant Cornish attack. However, Skolars started to make more regular inroads into the Cornish half, with Matt Ross losing the ball in a tackle a foot from the tryline. A goal-line drop-out saw them attack again, with Jarred Bassett coming into the line to score his side’s first try.
The full-back was involved in the next try three minutes later, taking a pass from Adam Vrahnos before passing back to the second rower. Cornwall won possession from a short kick-off, but couldn’t make any inroads into the defence before the break.
Skolars went further ahead when Vrahnos ran onto a Lyon kick. An error from a deep kick gave Cornwall a chance to re-assert themselves, but Vrahnos intercepted a pass on the visitor’s right. It took a good tackle by Whitton to stop Jonathan Bell, who kept Cornwall on the backfoot as they started to tire on a muggy afternoon. There was no stopping Bassett as he dummied out on the left wing for his second try.
Cornwall had some periods of possession, but couldn’t make enough inroad into Skolars’ territory to launch any meaningful attack, though their kicking did force Skolars to start many of their sets deep in their own half.
Two calls of six again in quick succession saw Skolars again close to Cornwall’s tryline, Henry Davetanivalu busting his way through the defence from close range. Leighton Ball kick return saw him race 60 metres downfield, Whitton tackled him, but held down so long that he received a yellow card and Cornwall missed him dearly in defence for the next ten minutes. Skolars moved the ball to the left with a couple of tip passes for Abevia McDonald to go over in the corner, Lyon successfully converting from the touchline.
With Cornwall struggling to regather structure with a man down, Lameck Juma broke the defence down the left before offloading to Bassett for his hat-trick.
Cornwall kicked out on the full from a goal-line drop-out and though Skolars didn’t score from the resultant set, it wasn’t long before they did score, Bassett again dummying, this time on the right wing to score, with Lyon missing a conversion for the first time in the afternoon.
LONDON SKOLARS
1 Jarred Bassett
2 Leighton Balll
3 Jerome Yates
4 Aaron Small
5 Abevia McDonald
6 Alex Deery
7 Phil Lyon
22 Anthony Cox
9 Neil Thorman
8 Christian Gale
11 Adam Vrahnos
12 Lameck Juma
13 Matt Ross
Subs (all used)
14 Liam O’Callaghan
10 Henry Davetanivalu
17 Jonathan Bell
15 Harry Kaufman
Tries: Bassett (33, 55, 69, 78), Vrahnos (36, 47), Davetanivalu (59), McDonald (64),
Goals: Lyon 7/8
CORNWALL
1 Liam Whitton
5 Decarlo Trerise
19 Aaron Jones-Bishop
4 Tom Ashton
2 Jayden Myers
7 Adam Rusling
6 Joe Purcell
8 Josh Hartshorne
9 Cole Connolly
10 Jack Ray
11 Nathan Cullen
12 Charley Bodman
13 Louis Collinson
Subs (all used)
14 Jacob Beer
15 Myles Tate
18 Brad Howe
17 Jamie Prisk
Tries: Rusling (12)
Goals: Rusling 1/1
Sin-bin: Whitton (63) -professional foul
Penalty count: 9-5
Half-time: 12-6
Referee: James Jones
Att: 271
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 6-6, 12-6; 18-6,, 24-6, 30-6, 36-6, 42-6, 46-6
