Skolars hit the road

London Skolars hit the road on Sunday for their first away game of a season where they will cover more than 4,000 miles on the road.

Currently the only southern-based team in Championship 1, Skolars will no doubt be looking forward to the expansion of the division in 2013, which is sure to see a number of new faces in expansion areas, with Northampton’s inclusion already confirmed.

In the league this season, Skolars face three trips to Cumbria, two to Wales and one to the north east this season, as well as games at Rochdale, Oldham and Doncaster, which at 344-mile round trip is their shortest away day.

Full back Neil Thorman told the club’s official website: “We usually set off very early in the morning and players, just like most blokes, love their beds. Also sitting on a coach for four to five hours at a time unable to stretch your legs and move about isn’t great preparation.

“Some players in the past have had to rely on service station food, and in some places it isn’t very nutritional.

“(But) when travelling on a bus for long periods there’s always a lot of banter that brings us closer as a team. On some of our really long journeys we are able to stay overnight in a hotel.

“However, this means Rugby League has taken up our whole weekend. A lot of the boys have wives, girlfriends and young families that they’d like to spend time with, which makes it tough.”

London’s first away game is a Northern Rail Cup clash against Batley at Mount Pleasant at Sunday, which is also their first competitive game of 2012, after last weekend’s scheduled cup opener against Toulouse was postponed due to a frozen pitch.