ST Albans Centurions suffered their worst defeat for two years when they went down to the unbeaten West London Sharks on Saturday. The Centurions were hit

Rugby League Conference

Southern Premiership

West London Sharks 56 St Albans Centurions 12

ST Albans Centurions suffered their worst defeat for two years when they went down to the unbeaten West London Sharks on Saturday.

The Centurions were hit by injuries, late withdrawals and the unexpected emigration of a prop forward. They also missed full back, Jack Cornthwaite who spent the whole of the first half, lost in London, desperately trying to find the ground.

The result was a hugely inexperienced pack with key players forced to play out of position and injured players named in the starting line-up.

Under the circumstances, it was a credit to the Centurions that they managed to hold the Sharks at bay for as long as they did, competing reasonably well for the first 40 minutes.

The game started ominously for the St Albans boys when, despite good defensive work from Ross Dempsey and Angus Simpson, Williams scored for West London after only four minutes. The lead was increased when Bartells converted and then added a penalty goal.

On 25 minutes the Cents hit back as Russ Kellaway smothered a West London kick and ran half the field to touch down under the posts. The try was converted by Dave Hancock, who played with real spirit all afternoon.

The Sharks added three more scores before half time, with Cents replying following a typical surge from the hard working Paul Maloney who released Chris True to glide through the defence and score under the posts. Dave Hancock added the extra two points and the half time deficit was 22-12.

After the break, the rampant Sharks run in seven more tries, three of them when the Cents had Miles Dempsey, Matt Spencer and Oli Fountain off the field injured and Rudi van der Merwe sin-binned for dissent.

This Saturday St Albans Centurions are at home to London Skolars. Kick off at the Recreation Ground, Colney Heath is at 2.30pm. Visit the club website www.sacenturions.co.uk for further details.

St Albans Centurions: Fountain, True, Kellaway, van der Merwe, Steinberg, Rampling, Simpson, Maloney, Hancock, M. Dempsey, Spencer, R. Dempsey, Hensby, Weldon, Molloy, Chapman, Cornthwaite.