BetFred League 1 – 5th March 2023
Oldham 62 London Skolars 16
Skolars’ second trip to Greater Manchester in two weeks saw a second heavy defeat.
They got off to the worst of starts, dropping the ball from the kick-off, then taking a short drop-out which gave Oldham an early chance to attack, Greg McNally going over on the right. The home side kicked high and deep and Skolars couldn’t avoid being pushed into touch. The resultant set saw Jordan Paga touchdown. The scrum-half added a second soon after when he picked up a loose ball from a kick that took a ricochet off a defender.
Skolars gained possession from an interception but lost the ball straight way with McNally finishing off. The visitors finally opened their scoring when Todd Peut picked up the ball after a chargedown on half-way. Oldham re-asserted their dominance when Matt Wilkinson passed the ball right from the base of the scrum to Alex Sutton, who weaved his way past the defence for his side’s fifth try.
Martin Ridyard made a 50 metre run from deep in his side’s half, but missed out on offloading to his winger. However, as his side kept making good yards in the set, Paga finishing off to complete his hat-trick. With the ball rarely getting out to him, Patrick Ah Van moved inside and was unstoppable when he took the ball five metres out in front of the posts.
The second half saw Skolars enjoy more possession and put pressure on the Oldham defence. Liam O;Callaghan and Matt Ross were both held up over the tryline before Christian Gale crashed over. Aaron Small picked up the ball from a bobbling Alex Deery kick close to the line for his side’s third try.
The Roughyeds won possession from the kick-off and then put sustained pressure on the tryline. Skolars held out for a while, but the floodgates opened again after Todd Peut was sin-binned for use of an elbow in the tackle, with Kieran Tyrer going over from dummy half. Skolars kicked out on the full and the resultant set saw Connor Carr race over to score on the left. Paga had moved to full-back after Greg McNally went off injured and he scored his fourth try after pushing off several players before stretching over the tryline.. The visitors had conceded three tries whilst Peut was in the sin-bin.
Oldham kept up the pressure with Dan Bristow having to take several high balls under pressure. Carr made a good run after a tiring Skolars’ defence conceded yet another penalty, with Jack Blackborough rounding off the try scoring, Ridyard adding his ninth conversion.
OLDHAM
1 Gregg McNally
5 Joe Hartley
29 Alex Sutton
4 Kian Morgan
2 Patrick AhVan
6 Martin Ridyard
18 Jordan Paga
17 Jack Blackborough
9 Matt Wilkinson
8 Luke Nelmes
11 Ethan Ferry
12 Zac Baker
10 Deane Meadows
Subs (all used)
28 Kieran Tyrer
14 Sean Slater
3 Connor Carr
25 George Hirst
Tries: McNally (2,15), Paga (5,12,32,73), Sutton (25), AhVan (37), Tyrer (650, Carr (68), Blackborogh (78)
Goals: Ridyard 9/11
LONDON SKOLARS
1 Dan Brisrow
2 Leighton Ball
3 Joe Sunders
4 Aaron Small
5 Louis O’Sulivan
6 Alex Deery
7 Jack Ryan
8 Lamont Bryan
9 Liam O’Callaghan
10 Todd Peut
11 Luciano Benjanidze
12 Jummy Morgan
13 Matt Ross
Subs (all used)
14 Doug Chirnside
15 Ed Brown
16 Henry Davetanivalu
17 Christian Gale
Tries: Peut (17), Gale (54), Small (58)
Goals: Ryan 3/3
Sin-bin: Peut (63) – use of elbow in tackle
Penalties: 11-3
Half-time: 38-6
Referee: Brad Miiligan
Att: 525
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 10-0, 16-0, 22-0, 22-6, 28-6, 30-6, 38-6; 38-12, 38-18, 44-18, 50-18, 56-18, 62-18
By Andrew Jackson
