BetFred League 1 – 29th April 2023
London Skolars 16 Dewsbury Rams 48
Facing unbeaten league leaders Dewsbury Rams after five weeks without a game was always going to be tough for Skolars, but their second half performance will have been encouraging ahead of next Sunday’s game against Midlands Hurricanes.
It was Dewsbury’s second trip to the capital in two weekends after taking on London Broncos in the Challenge Cup and they got off to the best of starts winning possession from a high kick-off and after Louis Collinson was held up over the line, Owen Restall joined the attack on the right to touchdown in the right corner with just over a minute gone. He was in support to finish off a Reiss Butterworth break six minutes later. When Caelum Jordan cut through the defence with ease, it looked ominous for Skolars.
Lameck Juma, in his first appearance this season, went close at the other end but Butterworth kept cutting through the defence with Skolars regularly on the backfoot. When he chip-kicked to the right, it fortuitously missed Arron Small’s hands and Lewis Carr touched down.
Dewsbury’s next try came from an intercept, Jordan taking a slow pass from Jacob Thomas before racing 80 metres to the Tottenham end. They added two further scores before the break, Oliver Greensmith slipping past the defence, then finishing a fast passing move from a scrum in the last minute of the half leaving Skolars 36 nil at the break.
However, they made an error at the second half kick-off. Matt Ross was held-up twice in one set, then Juma lost the ball as he tried to crash over. A relieving 40-20 kick gave the Rams an opportunity to regroup and attack, but they lost the ball on the second tackle.
After Alex Deery was held up after taking a lateral Thomas kick, giving Skolars another chance to attack. Lamont Bryan forced his way over by the posts and Lameck Juma repeated that six minutes later. Small was held-up a few minutes later, but after their poor start to the season, the Londoners weren’t used to controlling the game and white-line fever meant they failed to capitalise on territorial superiority. The Rams were also guilty of handling errors and had to defend again after kicking out on the full.
The visitors finally re-asserted themselves when Owen Restall looked to pass the ball to the left wing before spotting a gap opening in front of him and gratefully took the opportunity to complete his hat-trick. Matt Garside added another try with three minutes remaining, with Paul Sykes kicking his sixth try of the afternoon.
Once again there was a try as the hooter sounded, this time it was Skolars who scored with Harry Kaufman just managing to dive to the tryline in the right corner. That try and the second half performance will have given Skolars a well-needed confidence boost as they now start a run of weekly games, a rare event in the division this season.
Author-Andrew Jackson
LONDON SKOLARS
1 Donald Kudangirana
5 Leighton Ball
3 Jerome Yates
4 Aaron Small
2 Louis O’Sullivan
7 Jacob Thomas
6 Jack Ryan
15 Malakhi Lloyd-Jones
9 Doug Chirnside
8 Christian Gale
12 Jimmy Morgan
11 Lameck Juma
13 Matt Ross
Subs (all used)
6 Alex Deery
19 Todd Peut
22 Lamont Bryan
18 Harry Kaufman
Tries: Bryan (52), Juma (58), Kaufman (80)
Goals: Ryan 2/3
RAMS
1 Owen Restall
2 Lewis Carr
3 Oliver Goldsmith
21 Caelum Jordan
4 Davy Dixon
6 Paul Sykes
28 Luke Littlejohn
8 James Beckett
9 Reiss Butterworth
22 Jack Coventry
12 Matt Garside
18 Brad Graham
13 Louis Collinson
Subs (all used)
20 Jackson Walker
17 Elliot Morris
25 Tom Wilkinson
27 Owen Farrar
Tries: Restall (2,8,69) Jordan (11,25), Carr (21,40), Greensmith (36), Garside (77)
Goals: Sykes 6/9
Penalties: 6-4
Half-time: 0-36
Referee: Luke Bland
Att: 236
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-4, 0-10. 0-16, 0-20, 0-26, 0-32, 0-36; 6-36, 12-36, 12-42, 12-40, 12-48 16-48
