London Skolars 42 - Ovenden 18.

(National Conference).

LONDON Skolars managed to haul themselves off the bottom of the rugby league National Conference in their last game of the season, thanks to a thumping win over Ovenden.

In hot conditions on Monday and on extremely hard ground, the Wood Green-based side played the better rugby.

They only let themselves down when their almost traditional ten-minute lapse struck when Oveneden scored most of their points.

In the first half, Mike Symmonds galvanised the pack and made excellent use of the ball off the first man.

Had it not been for a number of elementary handing error, the Skolars might have put even more points on the board.

The tries that were scored were of the highest quality. Hakim Ashorobi and Marc Simon touched down early on before getting another one each as the Ovenden side sank deeper into trouble.

Symmonds also scored to cap a fine personal display that was a real end of season boost for the club.

The same side, playing under the name of North London Skolars, also played in the Summer National Conference against St Albans this week.

They provided a real shock when they beat a strong St Albans Centurions side 28-26, a result that nobody could have expected.

St Albans had run the game in the first half, but Skolars never say die attitude came right to the fore and they managed to claw their way back into the game and eventually got themselves in front.

Simon Gibson scored first for the home side and Delroy Mackensie touched down after a mazy run to spur Skolars further on.

In the second half, St Albans lost star man Wilde and their winning style went with him.

Hames and Critchley began to boss the show for the Skolars and both Gibson and Mackensie added to their personal tallies to crown a perfect day.

Byron Gardner also had a brilliant game, scoring a try to top it all off.

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