London Skolars v Doncaster Sat 14/5/2022 : Thu May 12, 2022 3:19 pm  

Initial squad named , Sanderson missing , assume injured.

Potential banana skin if we do not travel with correct attitude.

Re: London Skolars v Doncaster Sat 14/5/2022 : Thu May 12, 2022 3:28 pm  

weighman wrote:

Initial squad named , Sanderson missing , assume injured.

Potential banana skin if we do not travel with correct attitude.

Should win given Skolars recent form, but this is Doncaster RL and owt could happen. No surprise if London score a few.

We do appear to lack that spark or someone to get us going and Ben Johnson is missed in that regard. Whether or not Watson can bring his undoubted class to the table when he resumes after such a long absence remains to be seen. I really do hope so.

Re: London Skolars v Doncaster Sat 14/5/2022 : Fri May 13, 2022 8:52 am  

weighman wrote: Initial squad named , Sanderson missing , assume injured. Potential banana skin if we do not travel with correct attitude. https://www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/article/1137/news-|-horne-names-squad-for-skolars-trip Yes, a banana skin of the highest order... Skolars have lost at home to N Wales by 48 points, to Rochdale by 34 points and to Hunslet by 16 points. As we lost by 46 to N Wales, the worst case scenario is that we're only 2 points better than Skolars! Anything less than matching Hunslet's performance of winning by 16 would be disappointing though. Getting near to winning by 34 might give some hope we're in the same ball park as Rochdale who we've not played yet.

weighman wrote: Initial squad named , Sanderson missing , assume injured. Potential banana skin if we do not travel with correct attitude. https://www.doncasterrugbyleague.co.uk/article/1137/news-|-horne-names-squad-for-skolars-trip Yes, a banana skin of the highest order... Skolars have lost at home to N Wales by 48 points, to Rochdale by 34 points and to Hunslet by 16 points. As we lost by 46 to N Wales, the worst case scenario is that we're only 2 points better than Skolars! Anything less than matching Hunslet's performance of winning by 16 would be disappointing though. Getting near to winning by 34 might give some hope we're in the same ball park as Rochdale who we've not played yet.

Re: London Skolars v Doncaster Sat 14/5/2022 : Sat May 14, 2022 3:51 pm  

Final score London Skolars 12 v Doncaster 44.

Re: London Skolars v Doncaster Sat 14/5/2022 : Sat May 14, 2022 3:52 pm  

12-14 at H/T was worrying. 12-44 Full time not so much. Obviously a good second half and it will be interesting to hear from RH what was said during the interval. Twitter feed read well and the tackling was much better second half it appears.

Re: London Skolars v Doncaster Sat 14/5/2022 : Sat May 14, 2022 4:47 pm  

Yes, a banana skin of the highest order...

Skolars have lost at home to N Wales by 48 points, to Rochdale by 34 points and to Hunslet by 16 points.

As we lost by 46 to N Wales, the worst case scenario is that we're only 2 points better than Skolars!

Anything less than matching Hunslet's performance of winning by 16 would be disappointing though. Getting near to winning by 34 might give some hope we're in the same ball park as Rochdale who we've not played yet.[/quote]


Uncanny DM uncanny half time and full time. Well done mate.

Re: London Skolars v Doncaster Sat 14/5/2022 : Sat May 14, 2022 8:16 pm  

Some encouragement that we managed to win by a decent margin in the end.

The vital games are the ones against the teams in and around us, or more specifically the games against N Wales, Keighley, Rochdale, Swinton, Hunslet and Oldham. So far, we've played four and won one, of which three were at home.

Our other four wins have come against the also rans in the bottom four places.

In the games against the better sides we've scored 44 and conceded 148, giving a points difference of minus 104 points.

Today's win was important and should build confidence but needs to be seen in context. The fact that we've been comprehensively beaten by the better sides says we need to improve significantly to reach their level.

Fundamentally, as I see it, we're capable of running in plenty of points against teams when our forwards don't get out-muscled but when the forwards lose the battle up front we struggle.

We were slightly second best in the forwards against Oldham but with good discipline and very good game management we were able to get the win but even in that game had Oldham taken their chances it could have got away from us. In the games against Keighley, Swinton and N Wales our pack was well beaten and the scorelines reflected that.

We're very much missing the likes of Zac Braham, Brandan Douglas and Liam Johnson. With those three in the team, I'd be more confident we might get competitive against the best, but as things stand the points difference of minus 104 keeps hitting me in the face.

The game at Rochdale next week and the home game against Hunslet will be vital in giving clues as to whether we can get this season back on track. If we win those, the next step will be to raise our game to the level of Swinton, Keighley and N Wales. Should we lose against Rochdale and Hunslet, we'll be faced with the tag of being a mid-table team that is extremely unlikely to get promoted.

A couple of vital games lie ahead...