Kingstone Press League One: London Skolars 36 South Wales Ironmen 16

Results elsewhere meant London Skolars missed out on the top eight in the Kingstone Press League One despite a 36-16 win at home to South Wales Ironmen ahead of the division’s split.

Their final game of the first stage saw the hosts run in seven tries, though they might have expected to dominate more, with several South Wales players representing their country in the Student World Cup.

However, the visitors attacked from the start and went into the lead when Morgan Jefferies scored on the right.

Skolars opened their scoring through Charlie Lawrence, who stretched out to ground the ball on the tryline.

London went further ahead through Billy Driver, who scored after a break by Mike Bishay.

Ironmen narrowed the gap to two points when Jamie I’Anson forced his way over from dummy half.

Skolars responded through Dave Williams, who, relishing his move to the second row, touched down on the left.

Williams added a second try soon after half-time, when Bishay moved up into the attacking line to create space on the left.

Josh Allison then scored two tries, the first a well-timed run onto Sam Nash’s kick infield from the right, the next saw him race through a gap close to the posts.

It looked like South Wales might be running out of energy, but they worked hard against a side that could rotate players as they tired.

The visitors got close to London’s line a few times, but couldn’t break through.

Ironmen forced a goal-line drop, but Jy-Mel Coleman kicked short and won a scrum eleven metres out.

With some hard work from Williams and Robinson, Skolars moved upfield, with Bishay providing the final pass for Lamont Bryan to score.

That was Skolars’ only try in the last quarter of the game and South Wales scored on the hooter through Jordan Syme, after the ball had gone loose close to the try line.

Skolars clearly disagreed with the decision and that saw Erjon Dollapi receive a red card, adding a sour note to the win.