Roughyeds 20-30 London Broncos: Jarrod Sammut breaks Oldham hearts again
Jarrod Sammut's brilliance denies Oldham big win against London Broncos
By Roger Halstead The Oldham Times
Broncos' Jarrod Sammut turned the game once introduced by the visitors
Broncos' Jarrod Sammut turned the game once introduced by the visitors
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JARROD Sammut has broken many an Oldham heart over many a year, but never has it hurt so much as it did at Bower Fold yesterday when rugby league's maverick magician did it again in the last few minutes of a thriller.
Oldham, producing a terrific display that was full of pride and passion, went in front midway through the first half and led our capital city's full-timers until they dropped behind for the first time with only five minutes left on the clock.
And it was veteran Sammut, who has destroyed Oldham so often in the past, who did the damage after coming off the bench with the Londoners in big trouble and trailing 14-6 early in the second half.
Oldham led 20-12 with 10 minutes remaining when London boss Tom Tsang's masterstroke in keeping Sammut back until the second half reaped rich rewards.
The 34-year-old stand-off is well known to Oldham fans, having scored at least one try – nine in total – in his previous six games against the Roughyeds, three for London, three for Workington Town.
It was a major surprise when the Broncos announced their line-up with centre Chris Hankinson at half-back and with Sammut on the bench.
He was clearly there in reserve to be brought on if needed, and he was needed all right, as battling Oldham, second bottom and fighting for Championship survival under new boss Brian McDermott, looked like pulling off a shock win.
Tyler Dupree, again immense in the battle of the big boys up front, gave the home heroes an eight-point lead with his try early in the second half and at that point McDermott's men looked good enough to go on and win.
Tyler Dupree
Tyler Dupree
They twice went close to increasing their lead, first when Martyn Reilly was held up over the try line and then when lively hooker Jamie Abram knocked-on in the act of touching down.
A try then and Roughyeds would have been firm favourites to get the win they richly deserved, but it wasn't to be and to make matters worse, the visitors went straight down to the other end where winger Abbas Miski scored in the corner and Hankinson goaled off the touchline to cut the home lead to 14-12.
Full of fire and vigour, Roughyeds again put the Londoners under pressure when prop Reilly pulled out of a tackle and crashed over for a try which Dan Abram goaled.
At 20-12 in front with quarter of an hour to go, Oldham fans dared to dream that their side's long losing run might be coming to an end, but as the game edged into its final 10 minutes Sammut took it upon himself to turn that dream into a nightmare.
It was his brilliant 40-20 touch-finder that led directly to Miski's second try.
Then, with only five minutes left, the super sub made a brilliant individual break through a tiring defence and sailed around home full-back Dan Abram to shatter Oldham dreams and to put his side on level terms for the first time since midway through the first half.
Not only did it maintain his 100 per cent try-scoring record against Roughyeds, but it gave Hankinson the easiest of conversions which edged Broncos into a 22-20 lead.
Understandably, Roughyeds were sickened – and so were their fans.
Clearly buoyed, Broncos then scored again when hooker Jacob Jones squeezed over from dummy half. Hankinson goaled and then added a penalty goal after the final siren had sounded to give Broncos both points and a 30-20 win which didn't do any justice at all to the home side's battling performance.
London had won the toss and chosen to give Oldham first use of the slope.
It was nip and tuck, Oldham giving at least as good as they got, until they went in front in the 20th minute with a great try by Ryan Ince after slick play by the backs out on the right featuring James Barran and winger Tommy Brierley.
It was Barran's clever use of the ball that gave winger Brierley room to move and he did exceptionally well to hold off Miski before putting the ball back inside to Ince, who had a clear run to the line.
Dan Abram goaled and then added a penalty three minutes later after Barran was felled by a late tackle after he had put in a kick.
At 8-0 to the good, Roughyeds went through a dodgy spell and London's persistent pressure paid off when second-row Josh Walters crashed over for a try which Hankinson improved.
It remained 8-6 at half-time and the scene was set for a nail-biting second half in which Roughyeds and Broncos scored in turn until Sammut edged his side home with sheer individual brilliance in the last few minutes.
McDermott said: "We've obviously made a lot of progress in the last few weeks.
"I don't know how we would have fared against Broncos a month ago, but I thought this was a really good performance.
"I like to think some of the things I'm trying to put into place are starting to make a difference."
They certainly are; the only difference between a team of full-time professionals who are pushing for the play-offs and one that's battling to avoid relegation was Sammut's exciting ability to become a late match-winner in his own right.
Oldham: D Abram; Brierley, Ince, Roberts, Holcroft; Charnock, Hewitt; Reilly, Barran, Kirk, Bridge, Langtree, Bent. Subs: J Abram, Nelmes, Dupree, Pick.
Broncos: Leyland; Egodo, Hodson, Ogden, Miski; Hankinson, Meadows; Richards, Jones, Moran, Curran, Lovell, Walters. Subs: Horsman, Hindmarsh, Williams, Sammut.
