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REPORT: London Skolars 10-30 Doncaster


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London Skolars 10-30 Doncaster

League 1

New River Stadium, London

 

Dons XIII: Carr, Sheriff, Doherty, L. Welham, Foggin-Johnston, Howden, Hedges, Scott, Kesik, Nicholson, Walton, Foster, Milton. Interchange: Wright, B. Nicholson, Castle, Pickets-O'Donnell.

Skolars XIII: Walker DR, Nash, Lovell, Small, Paxton, Coleman, Woodburn-Hall, Dollapi, Lawrence, Everett DR, Williams, Worrincy, Chester. Interchange: Sykes, Mbaraga, Driver, Gray.

 

Sam Doherty’s second half hat-trick gave Doncaster a hard fought win against London Skolars to secure the Dons a place in the League 1 Super 8’s.

Dons head coach Gary Thornton was forced to make changes, with Jason Tali and Zac Braham injured, along with Makali Aizue missing on compassionate leave, so in came Joe Pickets-O’Donnell, Connor Scott and Doherty. 

Doncaster started brightly and were unlucky not to take an early lead, Louis Sheriff went over in the right corner, but it was ruled out for a forward pass from Tom Carr.

Kyle Kesik did get Doncaster off to a great start on the New River Stadium 4G pitch though, going over inside 11 minutes with a trademark try from dummy half, with Carr adding the conversion.

Doncaster extended that lead through the boot of Carr, who slotted a penalty from just inside the London half just six minutes later.

London Skolars pressed the Doncaster line for a large period of time, Mike Worrincy came closest to scoring for the hosts, but he was held up over the line as the Dons defence held strong. 

The Dons almost added to the lead when Jordie Hedges sent Jack Walton bursting through a gap at speed, he drew his man and passed to Liam Welham, but the centre knocked on with the try line begging.

London continued to put pressure on the Dons, but the Thornton’s side rallied and came up with another clinical try.  Stand-off Jordan Howden put in a fantastic perfectly weighted kick, Sheriff chased, caught and scored in the right corner, before Carr converted from touch to give Doncaster a 14-0 lead.

The hosts did make a breakthrough though before the break.  James Woodbury-Hall broke the Dons defence, before sending Worrincy over the line, with Jy-mel Coleman converting. 

Half Time: London Skolars 14-6 Doncaster

Doncaster began the second half with the same intensity as the first, Howden put in a really neat kick back on the inside, Ryan Wright appeared to palm the ball down backwards to Carr who scored, however the try was disallowed for a knock-on by Wright.

On the pitch play boiled over a couple of times, with some ferocious hits and Doncaster thought they had another breakthrough, but again it was ruled out.  Matt Nicholson offloaded superbly and the Dons spread the ball out wide, however Carr’s overhead pass to Sheriff was deemed forward.

Doncaster did eventually make a breakthrough two minutes later,  Howden’s chip to the in-goal bounced up perfectly for Doherty to score his first try of the afternoon.

After Tom Carr’s missed conversion, the players were taken from the pitch in somewhat farcical circumstances.  Thunderstorms and rain had been overhead throughout, however the match commissioner sent both teams to the changing rooms, despite the storm appearing to have ended.

Ten minutes later play resumed and London seemed to adapt better following the restart.  They scored their second of the afternoon after some fine handling by the hosts saw Will Lovell go over in the right corner, reducing the Dons lead to 18-10.

James Woodburn-Hall should have then scored for the hosts.  He cleverly ran straight over the injured Matt Nicholson to score under the posts, but he knocked on when grounding.

Doncaster then took full advantage in the 70th minute, some fine handling from the halves saw Howden send the ball out to Doherty who used his strength well to stretch over the line.

Carr then added a penalty, before Doherty sealed the win with a fine side step to break through the Skolars defence and complete his hat-trick, before Carr added the extras, to cap off a fine performance from the Dons.

Full Time: London Skolars 10-30 Doncaster

Dons Tries: Kesik, Sheriff, Doherty x 3

Dons Conversions: Carr x 3

Dons Penalty Conversions: Carr x 2 

Skolars Tries: Worrincy, Lovell.

Skolars Conversions: Coleman



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