Jump for Joy

Photo: PICTURES by CHRIS SUNDERLAND.

DRIVING FORWARD: Oldham’s Phil Joy takes up possession.

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LEWIS Palfrey excelled in two roles - captain and playmaker-in-chief - as Oldham battled from behind to snatch a 30-22 win against London Skolars.

Palfrey defended stubbornly, kicked the Londoners to death and was the main man in the build-up to tries by Phil Joy, Jon Ford and Mo Agoro.

To play like that yet still to be upstaged by front-row forward Joy gives some indication of the remarkable progress the young prop continues to make in his first season of senior rugby.

Sheer power on the drive, after taking Palfrey’s astute little inside pass, carried him over for his second try in two games midway through the first half.

But it was when returning to the action for his second spell, with Roughyeds in a spot of bother, that Joy gladdened the hearts of supporters with an all-action display that assisted in putting the home forwards in control and, ultimately, in paving the way for Scott Naylor’s men to win a hard-fought battle.

Twice in this late spell, when the game was finely balanced, Joy sapped the energy of London’s over-worked defenders by smashing his way over the visitors’ line only to be denied tries by the Skolars’ fierce and unrelenting rearguard action.

The men from White Hart Lane were hanging on to a 22-18 lead, but not for the first time in this demanding, yet absorbing, season Oldham put earlier failings behind them to finish in top gear and take the chequered flag.

Oldham made far too many early handling errors for this to be billed as a classic, but their reservoirs of energy and their never-say-die spirit carried them home.

Oldham had a few frights in an unconvincing first half, which ended with Ford taking Palfrey’s wide pass to cut back inside the cover and cross the line.

They suffered again early in the second half when the Londoners edged in front with tries by Louis Robinson and the dangerous Anthony.

It was all to come right for Oldham in the end, though, thanks to a gutsy fightback by Naylor’s young side in which full-back Lepori and winger Bloomfield posed many a threat.

Cookson and Agoro were strong and aggressive on the other flank, while all the forwards worked hard, but none more so than the four props, Liam Gilchrist, Jason Boults, Michael Ward and Joy.