Skolars taught lesson in Lunt’s masterclass
Last updated 16:03, Monday, 02 June 2008
London Skolars 38 Workington Town 45: Workington Town had hooker Shaun Lunt and half-back Carl Forber to thank for their seven-point victory over London Skolars in a points-fest at New River Stadium.
Forber – who was eight for eight with the boot – and Lunt contributed 33 of Town’s points and four tries.
In fact, the two teams combined for a total of 14 tries and 83 points in a match where defences were at best poor and frequently non-existent.
London had already blown two good opportunities before Corey Simms rose highest to catch a bomb from Jermaine Coleman in the sixth minute and he touched down for the opening score. Paul Thorman added the extras from out wide.
Workington hit back and were six points in front after 16 minutes. First Austen Aggrey made a hash of dealing with a bouncing kick from Forber and with the second set of six, Lunt went over from acting half-back.
Ryan Benjafield then spread-eagled three would-be tacklersas he burst over from 15 metresout.
But London hit back to with a try from big prop Richard Louw. He crashed over from close range after the Skolars had a repeat set of six.
The two hookers then scored three minutes apart. First Lunt danced through four tackles to score from 20 metres, but that was offset by Gareth Honor diving through the markers from dummy half.
Workington’s third lead of the half was perfectly timed not to leave London a chance to hit back. Lunt and Mark McCully combined to send over Jason Mossop in the corner.
Forber was perfect with his kick and Town turned around 24-18 ahead.
It is a shame the game’s turning point was a referee’s decision, but Peter Brooke’s decision to sin-bin Navila Davui for slowing the play-the-ball after he had hauled down the breaking Mossop seemed very harsh. In his absence, Town scored 14 points.
Forber kicked a penalty after 46 minutes after London had been penalised for a bad play-the-ball. The half-back then was at Lunt’s shoulder to finish off another break and, in the 52nd minute, Franco Kmet touched down to make it 38-18.
London regrouped and scored two quick tries, from Joe Brown and Coleman to cut the deficit to ten points.
But Lunt again soothed the slightly jangling nerves with another jinking run to complete his hat-trick.
With 11 minutes to go, Iain Marsh was sin-binned along with Puna Raisubale for fighting.
And the Skolars profited from the extra space to score two more quick tries – through Dene Miller and Thorman. Suddenly, with six minutes to go, London were trailing by six points.
Workington had the men for a difficult situation. Lunt made yet another break and this time Forber satisfied himself with a low drop goal that completed the scoring.
Match Facts
Town: McCully, Dawes, Campbell, Mossop, Dalton, Fober, Duffy, Benjafield, Lunt, Burgess, Young, Dexter Miller, Smith. Interchange bench: Marsh, Tunstall, Kmet, Lavulavu.
Skolars: Coleman, Simms, Davui, Shears, Aggrey, Gibbons, Thorman, Louw, Honor, Rasaubale, Thomas, Dene Miller, Barker. Interchange: Brown, Chan, Kerr, Jonker.
Penalty count: London 6 Workington 9.
Yellow cards: London: Davui (interference, 44), Rasaubale (fighting, 69); Town: Marsh (fighting, 69).
Referee: Peter Brooke (Manchester).
Attendance: 416.
Star Man: Shaun Lunt.
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