Kingstone Press League One Shield: Coventry Bears 14 London Skolars 50

A record-equalling fifth straight victory for London Skolars saw them shore up their position in the top two in the Kingstone Press League One Shield with a 50-14 win at Coventry Bears.

Despite the final scoreline, it was far from plain sailing in the first half, with Bears taking the lead after five minutes when Kieran Sharratt gathered a chip-kick.

There was a further blow for Skolars when Charlie Lawrence was forced off with a knock to the head soon after and took no further part in the game.

A high tackle on Phil Lyon saw Coventry’s Chris Barratt sin-binned and Skolars scored from the next set, with Michael Sykes dotting down under the posts.

Despite being a man short, Bears regained the lead when Hayden Freeman broke down the wing, before offloading to Mikey Russell.

London fought back, with Mike Bishay finishing off a Dave Williams break.

Williams scored just before half time when he took a short pass from Jermaine Coleman, giving Skolars a 17-10 lead at the break.

The second half saw London take control and a late tackle on Lyon saw them start an attacking set close to the tryline, from which Louis Robinson crashed over.

Soon after, Eddie Mbaraga took the ball on the right 30 metres out, before brushing off the fullback to score.

Coventry won possession from a short kick-off and were rewarded with a try for Jason Bass, but Skolars hit back again.

In his 150th game, player/coach Coleman timed his run to perfection to collect a kick from brother Jy-Mel to score.

Josh Allison then scored his 11th try of the season, before Bishay added his second of the game from another Jy-Mel Coleman kick.

The scoring was rounded off as Kazeem Faturoti-Edwards sliced through the defence to score in the right corner as London reached the half century.

Skolars are next in action on Friday when they host South Wales Scorpions at the New River Stadium.

If London triumph against their Welsh rivals, it will be enough to take them to the top of the Shield standings with the end of the season not too far away.