Kingstone Press League One: London Skolars 30 Hunslet 16

London Skolars kept their slim hopes of making the top eight in Kingstone Press League One when the division splits with a 30-16 win at home to Hunslet.

The first half saw both defences dominating, with David Williams in particular putting in a tremendous defensive stint for Skolars as they kept Hunslet scoreless.

However, they only went in six points ahead, scoring a try early on after Lameck Juma made a good break.

That allowed Mike Bishay to come into the attacking line as the ball was moved to the right, creating an overlap for Sam Nash to score in the corner.

With two minutes of the half remaining, tempers flared as Lamont Bryan for the hosts and George Flanagan were sin-binned, leaving both sides a man short at the restart.

Hunslet took advantage of the stretched defence early in the second period, with Jack Coventry forcing his way over the tryline.

London regained the lead soon after when another break by Juma saw him kick past the defence, forcing a goal-line drop-out.

After taking the drop-out, Juma then put in the final pass for James Hill to score in the left corner.

The Hunslet restart went out on the full, giving Skolars another chance to attack, which Sam Nash took to ground the ball under the posts, giving Jy-Mel Coleman an easy conversion.

Former Skolar Mufaro Mvududu scored to give the south Leeds side a chance, but when they kicked a drop-out straight into touch, Coleman kicked an easy penalty.

The hosts extended their lead when Bishay took a pass from a scrum on the right 30 metres from their opponents’ tryline.

Bishay then shot past the defence with an angled run that saw him score in the left corner.

Tempers flared again towards the end of the game, with two more sin-binnings and Juma receiving a red card.

Jimmy Morgan scored for Hunslet, but the conversion was missed and the visitors were running out of time.

Hunslet lost the ball and Bryan scored as the hooter sounded, with Coleman converting.