BetFred League 1 – 18th March 2023
London Skolars 22 Hunslet 66
Skolars fell to a heavy defeat for the third time in the league, though they did stage something of a recovery in the second half. By that time the game was out of reach.
They kept being put on the backfoot by Hunslet’s strong pack, Harvey Hallas’ offload creating space for Josh Jordan-Roberts to score. Alex Deery tried to take a high kick from Hunslet, but couldn’t keep control and lost possession, giving the visitors good field position. They shifted the ball quickly to the right for Adam Ryder to touchdown.
Missed tackles then saw Michael Knowles stroll over and then a break and dummy by Nathan Conroy opened up the defence for Sam Hallas to score. When they created a two man overlap for Ryder to go over two minutes later, the Soyth Leeds side were scoring at over a point a minute. Joe Mbu rang the changes in the forwards, Christian Gale in particular giving the home side some well needed momentum. Skolars had a good chance after the first penalty of the game ten metres from the tryline, but an incorrect play-the-ball on the second tackle stopped that momentum.
The scoring continued for the visitors after Sam Hallas and Jimmy Watson created space for Ryder to complete a first-half hat-trick. Skolars forced a goal-line dropout at the other end with Aaron Small forcing his way over. Hunslet won their first penalty deep in their own half with a minute remaining. They won another penalty after Jack Render was dragged into touch outside the 30 metre line as the hooter sounded. They elected to tap the ball and after moving the ball to the left, another Skolars infringement saw Luke Sweeting kick for goal.
A fourth penalty in a minute came from the second half kick-off by Hunslet. Luciano Bejanidze somehow managed to offload after taking a high kick to the right and Gale was on hand to finish off. A high kick by Jack Ryan forced a drop-out but normal service was resumed as the starting front returned for Hunslet, Steve Crossley scoring soon afterwards after two quickfire penalties. Nathan Conroy sped from halfway to score, Ryder adding his fourth try after taking a high kick to run up the half-century.
The Londoners then enjoyed their best spell of the game. Doug Chirnside was held-up over the tryline before Louis O’Sullivan was the first to dive on to a Jacob Thomas kick, Dan Bristow being inches behind as they both raced to the ball. O’Sullivan added a second from a Liam O’Callaghan drubber five minutes later.
Crossley’s strong words to his side behind the posts at that stage saw Hunslet dominate the closing stages. Jamie Greenwood scored out wide on the left before a Joe Burton break a pass go to ground, which Sweeting picked up to go in under the posts. They again scored after the hooter with Jack Render rounding the defence for Sweeting to add his ninth goal of the afternoon.
LONDON SKOLARS
1 Jacob Thomas
2 Louis O’Sullivan
3 Dan Bristow
4 Aaron Small
5 Jerome Yates
6 Alex Deery
7 Jack Ryan
8 Lamont Bryan
10 Todd Peut
11 Luciano Bejanidze
12 Jimmy Morgan
18 Liam O’Callaghan
Subs (all used)
14 Shane Lee
22 Anthony Cox
15 Malakhi Lloyd-Jones
19 Christian Gale
Tries: Small (37), Gale (42), O’Sullivan (66.71)
Goals: Ryan 3/4
HUNSLET
1 Jimmy Watson
2 Jack Render
3 Adam Ryder
4 Joe Burton
36 Alfie Goddard
6 Jake Sweeting
7 Nathan Conroy
8 Harvey Hallas
9 Sam Halls
10 Steve Crossley
11 Josh Jordan-Roberts
16 Jordan Syme
13 Michael Knowles
Subs (all used)
23 Jamie Greenwood
12 Aaron York
22 Liam Carr
26 Jordan Bull
Tries: Jordan-Roberts (4), Ryder (10,22,30,59), Knowles (14), S Hallas (18), Crossley (49), Conroy (56), Greenwood (75), Sweeting (78), Render (80)
Goals; Sweeting 9/12
Penalty count: 4-5
Half-time: 6-34
Referee: Luke Bland
Att: 186
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-4, 0-10. 0-14, 0-20, 0-26, 0-32. 6-32, 6-34; 6-30, 6-34; 12-34, 12-40, 12-46, 12-50, 16-50, 22-50, 22-43, 22-60, 22-66
By Andrew Jackson
