South Wales Scorpions
coach Dave Clark was pleased with his side’s “important” history making 22-20 victory
at Oxford as his side triumphed in the first ever RL match to be held at the
new club’s Iffley Road ground.
The win was due to the accuracy of Courtney Davies’ kicking
as he landed three conversions to Jonny Leather’s two after both sides grounded
four tries each.
But Clark was quick to praise his side’s defence that kept
them in the game as they at one point kept out three consecutive sets of six
near to their own line.
“I think coming off the back of three losses it was
important for us to get a win and keep us in touch with sides at the top of the
[table],” he said. “It’s only the second round and early days, but with Oxford
being a new side in this competition we should be competing well against them.
“[It] was an important game for us. It was the result we
wanted, but performance-wise we played under par with our core skills and we
allowed them to walk up the field, give them a good position and the
opportunity to score tries. [But] our mentality in defence was really good
though and that probably won us the game.”
The weather was atrocious, but 352 hardy souls braved it and
voiced their support in Oxford Rugby League’s first ever home match.
It was even throughout, and the scoring was try for try for
the entire 80 minutes. Oxford deserved a draw and could have got one, scoring
their fourth try in the final minute and, had the experienced Leather kicked a
successful conversion rather than slicing the ball wide, they would have picked
up two points rather than their solitary bonus point.
From an early penalty, Scorpions looked for the first try of
the game, but James Greenwood spilled the already slippery ball and the chance
was lost.
At the other end, Alex Thompson almost gave Oxford the lead
as he dived over the line from short range but he too mishandled.
The visitors were first to score when on 12 minutes, Steve
Parry kicked a grubber under the sticks and Greenwood pounced, with Davies
converting.
Oxford levelled on 21 minutes when Valu Bentley was on the
end of a high hopeful kick that slipped past the Scorpions back-line. Leather added
the extras.
Scorpions came back again and led on the half hour with a
Shae Lyon-Fraser try which Davies converted, before Oxford hit back near to
half-time when Sean Morris stormed through into the corner. Leather missed on
this occasion.
Matt Fiander was close to a third try for Oxford, but was
stopped on the line, meaning that the Scorpions had a slender two-point lead at
the interval.
After an early second half Oxford chance, the south Wales
side extended their advantage on 57 minutes when Rhodri Lloyd picked up a loose
ball and had a relatively easy sprint to score. Davies, though, missed the kick
attempt.
Again Oxford came back after Leather picked up a stray ball
on his own 10 metre line and sprinted virtually the length of the field,
converting his own try to level the scores again with a remarkable passage of
play.
But the Scorpions were intent on spoiling their big day and
regained the lead again with six minutes left on the clock when Chris Leyshon
scored out on the wing and Davies kicked the tricky conversion.
The drama continued right into the final minute. Shaun
Robinson scored for Oxford in the corner which meant Leather was under pressure
to earn his side a draw, but couldn’t cope with the challenge and the visitors
came away with the narrow win.
The Scorpions have no game this coming weekend as they’re already
out of the Challenge Cup. They return to action on April 28 when they host Rochdale
Hornets at The Gnoll, their last game at home for almost two months as the
pitch is due to get its annual renovation treatment.
Clark, though, would have preferred to have had a game this
weekend and says the players didn’t need the rest, saying: “A lot of the other sides
will have a game, so we’ll be behind in regards to conditioning. That’s
something we have to focus on, have a mini pre-season and keep the boys
focussed for the Rochdale game, which I’m sure will be another close
encounter.”
