Nick Surtees on the charge
RLC Round 5 - St Albans Centurions 20 -v- 36 London Skolars 'A' 24.05.08
St. Albans Centurions suffered their first ever home defeat in the league at their Colney Heath ground on Saturday when they went down 20 - 36 to a powerful London Skolars side.
The Cents started well enough, defending resolutely for the opening period and even though the Skolars had the territorial advantage, it was the Centurions who scored first when Lewis Padmore, still nursing an injury, went over after Shane Rampling’s kick had been fumbled by the London defence. Five minutes later new signing, Alistair Scott did well to intercept on his own line and after strong running from Paul Maloney and Chris True had moved the home side upfield, the Cents increased their lead when Richard Smith powered through and stretched over for a fine individual try. Oli Fountain added the goal.
Fountain was on the scoresheet again on thirty minutes as he showed tremendous speed and real power, shrugging off tackles to touch down. When he converted his own try, the St. Albans side had raced into a 16 - 0 lead and might have thought that victory was theirs.
Moments later, Fountain made a try saving tackle on speedy Skolars winger, Russell Brooks, who had made a sensational, length of the field break. But the Skolars were now in a strong position and as the Cents seem to lose concentration, prop Glen Osborn tapped the ball and dived over to score.
The St. Albans side conceded a series of penalties and as the Skolars advanced upfield, it was no real surprise when centre Steve Forbes powered over for a try, which Leigh Nissen converted to make the half time score 16 - 10.
The second half started with London Skolars further narrowing the lead as prop Jeremy Benson scored from a suspiciously forward pass. Fifty minutes in, the Centurions did well to keep the ball alive on the last tackle with kicks from Fountain, True and Rampling. They managed to force a scrum and Angus Simpson and Oli Fountain combined to send over Mike Okwusogu for a try on his return to the club.
The Cents continued to threaten with strong runs from Roy Dube and Dan Hensby but it was the Skolars who were gaining the upper hand and when Chris True lost the ball behind his own line, the London side grabbed an easy try to level the scores. With fifteen minutes to go, the Skolars took the lead for the first time when centre Jay Udu-Udoma took advantage of a mix up, as a ball from Shane Rampling bounced off Mike Okwusogu straight into his hands for a simple four points.
The Centurions didn’t help their cause as they conceded more penalties, showing a lack of discipline and unwisely questioning the referee’s decisions. And with only minutes to go, Mario du Toit took advantage of the disarray, grabbing a controversial try after a confusing play on the sixth tackle. With Paul Maloney sin binned for dissent, the Skolars rubbed salt into the wound when Smokie Junor scored in the dying seconds after a brilliant offload from prop Glen Osborn.
“Poor handling and discipline cost us in the end,” said player/coach, Shane Rampling. “Roy Dube and Angus Simpson played really well and we showed a lot more effort than last week but on the day we just weren’t good enough to control the game.”
On Saturday the Centurions are away to league newcomers, Portsmouth Navy Seahawks. “It’s a crucial match for us if we’re going to stay in touch with the league leaders,” added Rampling. “I’m still confident we can come up with a win.”
Team: True; Scott; Fountain (try, 2 goals); van der Merwe; Hensby; Kellaway; Rampling; Dube; Simpson; Lye; Maloney; Cornthwaite; Smith(try); Padmore (try); Okwusogu (try); Stout; Prout.
