LONDON DEVELOPMENT DOWN LONDON SKOLARS (by David Ballheimer)

Ted Davidson was proving very hard to tackle and he scored the third Development try, in the 10th minute, again taking advantage of some weak defending to go over close to the left corner, leaving Binks with too much of an angle for Binks to improve.

A shower of rain about an hour before kick-off made the pitch rather slick and the handling from both teams could have been better. It also didn’t help that many of the players were new to team-mates and in the 22nd minute, the Skolars scrum-half was not happy with how his openside prop was packing, so he lifted his right leg to give a channel into which he could feed the ball.

It didn’t help because the ball was lost on the first tackle and from that set-piece, 70 metres from the Skolars line, the ball was fed to Davidson, who sprinted past everyone on his way between the uprights. Binks made no mistake 

Careless handling by the Development squad gave the Skolars a good chance to get on the scoreboard late in the first half, but two over-eager kicks saw the ball roll dead in goal to concede seven-tackle sets from the 20. No advantage was taken by either side.

The Development team started the second half with another early try, this one a close-range effort which Binks again converted, this his best kick of the day. Ball nearly had his second try of the afternoon, but the pass to him, unmarked and 10 metres from the line, was far too high for him to have a chance of catching.

Skolars did get on the scoresheet, just before the hour mark, Josh Burke going over from close range after a period of pressure. The try was improved by the scorer to make the score 26–6.

The Development team were denied two more tries by very tight forward pass rulings, but they did go over again 10 minutes from the end, Will Randall getting on the scoresheet. Binks, who played the full 80 minutes, made no mistake with the kick.

Teams:

London Skolars (alphabetical order for squad): Brandon Angol, Joshua Anson, Christopher Appleton, Omar Benhoura, Reece Brett, Josh Burke, Callum Clayton-Smith, Emmanuel De Jesus, Nicholas Grimes, Orson Fairlamb, Odysseas Georgiou, Samuel Guthrie, Darryl Kambarami, Jasper McLachlan, Nicolo Motta, Alexander Ofulue, Rodell Reid, Ethan Tapol, Archie Walker.

Try: Burke 56.

Goal: 1/1

London Development: Shay Flanagan, Leighton Ball, Jamie Hewson, Ted Davidson, Charlie Randall, Jenson Binks, Sam Bloomer, Euan Parke, Connor Flanagan, Eamonn Iheme, George Harding, George Murray, Joe Allison. Replacements: Will Peasey, Will Randall, Ben Ratcliffe.

Tries: Ball 2, Parke 5, Davidson 10, 23, S Flanagan 43, Randall 71.

Goals: Binks 4/6

Penalty count: 7–4

HT: 0–20

Att: 150