BARLA GB THREE OUT OF THREE

THREE OUT OF THREE AIN'T BAD FOR THE LIONS

South Africa Schools .. 0
Unison BARLA Great Britain Young Lions .. 78

Richard De La Riviere at Die Hoer Tegniese Skool, Potchefstroom

THREE down, two to go!

The Unison BARLA Great Britain Young Lions tore through the South Africa Schools on Saturday morning in the beautiful town of Potchefstroom in what was, to be completely honest, a huge mismatch of size and Rugby League nous.

But, as they say, you can only beat what is put in front of you and the Lions scored some great tries, defended well when they had to and were even disappointed at their performance after a blistering opening.

"We were magnificent for half an hour, but after that I felt we went away from our philosophy," said coach Garry Schofield. "You can’t fault a scoreline like that, but we’ve certainly got some improvements to make."

Egremont winger Jack Murray got the scoreboard moving after touching down after a clever scrum-base movement and six minutes later, Pat Foulstone’s pass off the ground sent Kurtis Marsh over the tryline. Ross Gainford goaled the second for a 0-10 lead.

In between South Africa gave a warning of their own attacking intentions with some neat play on the halfway line from centre Sewes Wolmarans before he threw the ball into touch.

Prop Tom Hurdus went over in the tenth minute from a Daniel Rowse pass before Foulstone scored four minutes later with an exquisite dummy taking him over the line. Two more Gainford conversions took the score to 0-22.

Karl Sandford added his name to the scoresheet, finishing a move involving Daniel Jones, Rowse and Matthew Huby before centre Greg Worrall’s excellent footwork took him past the last line of defence to open up a 34-point lead.
Alex Walmsley was too strong for the hosts close to the line in the 29th minute eight minutes before Sandford’s second closed the first-half scoring. Bell broke into attacking territory before being tackled and on the next play, Sandford profited.

Unfortunately, the start of the second half saw Lions sub Zach Johnson injure his knee with the game held up for several minutes. When play resumed, Daniel Rooney, the skipper, was the next scorer after a great short ball from Gainford, who had kicked seven of his first eight conversion attempts.

Three minutes later, Matthew Huby, who enjoyed a superb game, scored after Sandford had gone close on the previous play and when Worrall took Rowse’s pass to score, a huge total looked to be on the cards, especially when the South Africans had their fiery substitute halfback, Ryan ven de Ross, sin-binned.

Further tries to Walmsley, Hurdus - a barnstorming effort after Stevie Scholey had gone close, and Bell - after a 60-metre move, completed the scoring before Huby was binned for a late high tackle.

There were no further scores in the last ten minutes with the home side commendably competing right until the end. As for the Lions, they head to Vanderbijlpark, near to their base on the River Vaal, on Wednesday to play the South African President’s XIII.

Unison BARLA Great Britain Young Lions
4 Pat Foulstone (Shaw Cross)
2 Matthew Bell (Thatto Heath)
24 Greg Worrall (Oldham St Annes)
15 Daniel Rooney (Maryport)
14 Jack Murray (Egremont Rangers)
5 Ross Gainford (Kells)
16 Daniel Rowse (Lock Lane)
9 Tom Hurdus (Saddleworth)
11 Daniel Jones (Leigh Miners)
22 Alex Walmsley (Dewsbury Celtic)
12 Kurtis Marsh (Pilkington Recs)
17 Karl Sandford (Thatto Heath)
7 Matthew Huby (Wath Brow Hornets)
Subs (all used):
8 Kenny Hughes (Thatto Heath)
13 Adam Masson (Shaw Cross)
18 Stevie Scholey (Maryport)
10 Zach Johnson (Shaw Cross).

SOUTH AFRICA
1 Tebogo Moleke
2 Gert Janse van Rensburg
3 Sewes Wolmarans
4 Khotso Leepile
5 Granthan Christie
6 Jeandie Cilliers
7 Justin Dreyer
8 Riaan Janse van Vuuren
9 Doohan Viljoen
10 Henk Smit
11 Julio Da Sylva
12 Jean Davis
13 Ben van de Linde
Subs (all used)
14 Ryan ven de Ross
15 Gert Martins
16 Charl Litefoot
17 Kevin Tshabalala
18 Paul Motswari
20 Delray Delport
21 Katla Mokoto

Men of the Match

Young Lions: Alex Walmsley

South Africa Schools: Khotso Leepile

GAMEBREAKER: Three tries in the first ten minutes meant put the game beyond the hosts.

GAMESTAR: Alex Walmsley for the second time in three games. Too much for the South Africans to handle.

TOP TACKLE: Adam Masson drilled Khotso Leepile into touch with a great tackle late on.

South Africa Schools 0
Unison BARLA Great Britain Young Lions

Tries: Murray (2), Marsh (8), Hurdus (10, 67), Foulstone (15), Sandford (21, 37), Worrall (24, 59), Walmsley (29, 63), Rooney (50), Huby (53), Bell (70).

Goals: Gainford (11/14)

Scoring sequence: 0-4, 0-10, 0-16, 0-22, 0-28, 0-34, 0-40, 0-46, 0-52, 0-56, 0-62, 0-68, 0-74, 0-78

Penalty count: 5-13

GLDO Forced: 0-2

Half-time: 0-46

Referee: Joe Cobb

Richard de la Riviere
Unison BARLA Great Britain Young Lions PRO

Steve Manning
BARLA Media Manager