Spirited Skolars mauled by Cougars

LONDON Skolars finished their 2009 season with a spirited performance, but couldn’t break down a Keighley Cougars side that sealed runners-up spot. The defeat left Skolars last in the league, although there is no relegation.

There were mistakes aplenty early on. Skolars dropped the ball from the kick-off, but then Keighley seemed unable to keep hold of the ball either, possibly due to a heavy downpour two hours before the game. Skolars took advantage of the Cougars errors. Paul Thorman kicked a clever chip down the left flank, which was regathered by Kris Hodson who had the pace to pull away from the defence before offloading to Olu Iwenofu who finished the try in the corner. Thorman, ever-present again this season, converted his kick from the touchline on a difficult night for kickers; his counterpart Danny Jones managing just two from six attempts.

A Keighlet error saw them concede a goal-line drop-out, but they regained the ball, moved upfield and Daley Williams latched onto a Jon Presley kick to open their scoring. Then substitute Brendon Rawlins powered through the defence from 20 metres out. Five minutes later Dan Potter finished a quick passing move to the right flank.

Despite being a player down after Kris Hodson had been sin-binned for dissent, Skolars were in a good position to score one back just before the break, but John Paxton was a long way offside in taking Jy-Mel’s Coleman’s kick just with the try-line beckoning. Keighley took full advantage from the penalty kick and another powerful run from Rawlins saw him touchdown at the other end and give Cougars an 18-6 lead at the break.

Skolars responded quickly after the restart, Olu Iwenofu using his pace to finish off a move from John Paxton, one of the season’s finds for the Skolars.

Keighley then scored two tries in seven minutes through Sam Gardner through and Jermaine Wray. Any chance of a comeback for Skolars was dampened by torrential rain, which flooded the running track and saw many of the 1,156 spectators dashing for cover at the top of the stand. In the crowd was Alistair Campbell who is a Cougars fan and he made presentations to the men of the match in the curtain raiser between the All Parliamentary RL group and a London Masters side.

It was Jermaine Coleman’s last game as acting head coach for Skolars and he was pleased with the team’ performance. “We played well and were in with a chance for most of the game. The game really turned on the stroke of half-time, but we showed how much we’ve improved since our trip to Keighley. It was a big game for us in front of big crowd – that lifted us. Hopefully Ross Antoniolli and myself have continued what Callum (Irving) started here and that we’ve left a good platform for James Massara to take over next season.”