By Ian Golden
February 19 2007

Review of the action as the Celtic Crusaders won by 44 points to 28 against London Skolars in the 2nd game of the Northern Rail Cup. For details read on.

CELTIC CRUSADERS 44 LONDON SKOLARS 28

By Ian Golden at Brewery Field - From the official website http://www.crusadersrl.com/

In a thriller at the Brewery Field, Celtic Crusaders made hard work out of beating a plucky London Skolars side, but eventually ran out 44-28 winners thanks to three tries in the last ten minutes.

The Skolars competed well for a lot of the game and were even two points ahead at the interval.

But it was the home side that opened the scoring on four minutes. Following a Skolars’ mistake on their own 40-metre line, Welsh international Anthony Blackwood stormed over. Damien Quinn converted.

Skolars got back into the game in the tenth minute thanks to some Crusaders indiscipline. Just two minutes after missing a penalty kick given for holding down in the tackle, Paul Thorman successfully kicked a penalty in a similar position for a similar offence.

But the Crusaders extended their lead on 16 minutes when Blackwood went over for his second and Quinn again kicked the extras.

Skolars’ Ashley Tozer scored a fine individual effort for the Skolars on 21 minutes with Thorman converting but a Quinn try gave the Crusaders an eight-point lead three minutes later.

However the Skolars went into the break with a two-point advantage. First Tozer set up substitute Austin Aggrey to go over on 32 minutes, then a superlative run by Johnny Williams from the half-way line gave him the try of the match on the hooter with Thorman adding another goal.

Blackwood was denied a hat-trick after a minute of the second half as his effort was disallowed for a forward pass, but Tony Duggan went over for his first try of the season on 43 minutes to edge the Crusaders into the lead once again.

A fine run from Dean Fitzgerald enabled Duggan to leap in for his second on 52 minutes but Tozer ran in for a hard fought second try for the centre to put the Skolars to within two points.

To just keep the excitement to a maximum, the sides swapped tries within three minutes. First Neil Budworth stormed his way through another great individual effort before the Skolars got another try back with Tozer getting his hat-trick. Both tries were converted.

But the Crusaders wrapped up their win with two tries in the last ten minutes. Duggan completed his hat-trick with a try in the corner before beautifully setting up Jace Van Dijk to go in for the Crusaders’ eighth touchdown of the day.

Finally, the home side rubbed salt into the wounds with a try a minute from time by Richard Johnston in the corner, to deny the Skolars even a bonus point for their brave efforts.

Crusaders’ coach John Dixon said: “It was important to gain the first win of the season today. We were only two points down at half-time so we had a great opportunity to come out and do something about it. We had 40 minutes to establish a bit more of a platform and dominance of the game but in the end we got just reward for our efforts.”

Dixon said that denying the Skolars a bonus point was never on his mind.

“That was never in our minds,” Dixon adds. “We just go out there to do the best we can and I’m happy with the result today.”

CRUSADERS
1. Tony Duggan
2. Grant Epton
3. Rob Toshack
4. Anthony Blackwood
5. Craig Richards
6. Luke Young
7. Jace Van Dijk
8. Josh Cale
9. Neil Budworth
10. Jamie I’Anson
11. Neale Wyatt
12. Mark Dalle Cort
13. Damien Quinn
Subs:
14. Richard Johnston
15. Dean Fitzgerald
16. Hywel Davies
17. Phil Cushion

Tries: Blackwood (4, 16), Quinn (24), Duggan (43, 52, 72), Budworth (63), Van Dijk (74), Johnston (79)
Goals: Quinn 4/9

SKOLARS
1. Pete Hodgkinson
2. Corey Simms
3. Chris Shears
4. Ashley Tozer
5. Johnny Williams
6. Kurt Pittman
7. Paul Thorman
8. Martin Benson
9. Gareth Honor
10. Dave Ellison
11. Mike Castle
12. Lydan Matua
13. Jermaine Coleman
Subs:
14. Frank Reid
15. Austen Aggrey
16. Alan Barker
17. Warren Heilig

Tries: Tozer (21, 58, 65), Aggrey (32), Williams (40)

Goals: Thorman 4/6

Gamebreaker: Jace Van Dijk’s try in the 74th minute coupled with Quinn’s conversion to give the Crusaders a 12-point gap.

Gamestar: Tony Duggan for his best performance of the season so far which resulted in a hat-trick of tries.

Half-time: 16-18
Men of the Match: Crusaders – Duggan, Skolars - Tozer
Penalty Count: 5-9
Referee: Chris Dean (Hull)
Scoring Sequence: 6-0, 6-2, 12-2, 12-8, 16-8, 16-12, 16-18, 20-18, 24-18, 24-22, 30-22, 30-28, 34-28, 40-28, 44-28

Weather: Cold and dry but damp underfoot.

Match Rating: 4/5