Stenchion impresses on Roughyeds debut
Date published: 18 April 2011
Photo: Chris Sunderland
WHITEBANK WONDER: NEIL Roden (right) scores his 100th try for Roughyeds as London Skolars are put to the sword.
Oldham 52, Skolars 26
LUKE Stenchion's eye-catching debut in the front-row overshadowed Neil Roden's achievement in scoring his 100th try in the Roughyeds' jersey.
Over the last decade Oldham fans have grown accustomed to the polished professionalism of their club's longest-serving player, but there's nothing like first-game confidence and competence from a new boy to create a buzz around the ground.
Coming off the bench, Stenchion had already made two pile-driver tackles in his first five minutes as a Roughyed before he started the move that Roden finished off with his milestone try 32 minutes into his 258th cup-and-league appearance for the club.
Dave Ellison went up the middle off Stenchion's short ball and John Clough followed him through the gap to send in Roden by the posts for the sixth of the Roughyeds' ten tries.
Mick Diveney's conversion gave the home side a 30-8 lead with little more than half-an-hour gone, by which time Tony Benson's reshaped outfit was already well on its way to a win which will lift the spirits of everyone at the Whitebank Stadium.
Desperate to end a run of three losses, Benson made nine changes in total — five positional plus Stenchion's introduction and the recall after injury of Roden, Marcus St Hilaire and young Matthew Fogarty in place of Jack Bradbury, Ben Wood, Liam Gilchrist and the injured Ben Heaton.
Oldham were a far more balanced and efficient side than of late with Roden controlling things again on the left side of midfield and with Stenchion earning high fives from his team mates several times after tackling so tenaciously that Skolars' forwards coughed up vital possession.
The Londoners never saw the ball in the 20 minutes before half-time and it was pleasing to see Roughyeds producing high-quality attacking rugby to make the most of their monopoly of possession.
They rattled in six tries in a quarter-of-an-hour by Jason Boults, Paul Noone, Lucas Onyango, Neil Roden, Shaun Robinson and Mark Brocklehurst.
Before that each side had scored twice, but once Oldham opened up on full throttle they piled on 38 points without reply with half-backs Roden and Diveney orchestrating an attack that had the beating of Skolars up the middle and down both flanks.
Oldham scored eight tries in the first half alone, each with something of merit but the best of the lot finished off by Onyango after great work by Diveney and Fogarty.
Not for the first time Diveney despatched a superbly-timed cut-out pass into the hands of Fogarty, who sped away up the touchline before drawing the last defender and sending Onyango over for the try with an inside ball. Great stuff.
For one so young, Fogarty gave an excellent display at right centre, as did another rookie, Shaun Robinson on the left wing. Benson paired Fogarty with Onyango and St Hilaire with Robinson, thus ensuring an equal mix of youth and experience on both sides of the field.
With Martin Roden at loose-forward, Paul Noone as left-side second-rower and Andy Isherwood out on the right this was by far the most experienced side Oldham had fielded in weeks.
They led 42-8 at half-time and stretched the lead to 48-8 within minutes of the restart when Diveney danced and dodged his way over to score near the posts.
After that, Roughyeds went into their shell. The anticipated points rush in the second half never happened, the home side's only other try coming from a length-of-the-field breakaway effort by Onyango.
On the other hand Skolars scored three times. Clement-Pascall crossed twice on the back of good, attacking rugby and in the dying minutes Dylan Skee intercepted Diveney's one and only stray pass to score from long range.
Roughyeds still have plenty of work to do to further tighten their defence — and against better teams than Skolars they will need to be at their best for 80 minutes.
Nevertheless, this was a highly satisfactory result and one that will increase confidence and self-belief in time for the eagerly-awaited derby clash with Hornets on Friday.
WINGER Eddie Vaughan and replacement forward Alex Thompson caught the eye as Roughyeds reserves blitzed York City Knights 52-16 at Whitebank on Saturday to pick up their third win in five league outings.
