London Broncos earned a memorable 26-24 over Hull Kingston Rovers at Trailfinders Stadium tonight to move off the bottom of the table into tenth place with this victory over their relegation rivals.
In a tightly fought first half the Broncos were the first to score when Jordan Abdull landed a penalty and they extended their lead when, after an Abdull bomb, they retained possession and the ball was worked out to Kieran Dixon on the right wing, who kicked the ball inside for Morgan Smith to touch down.
Dixon couldn’t add the conversion, but added a second penalty soon afterwards to give the Broncos an eight-point lead.
The Robins hit back when Weller Hauraki pounced to touch down a smart Josh Drinkwater grubber, with Ryan Shaw adding the goal, although they had been fortunate to escape without conceding a penalty shortly before that when Drinkwater had appeared to obstruct Alex Walker.
Rovers scored two quickfire tries in the second half through Adam Quinlan and Chris Atkin, with Shaw converting both to give them an 18-8 lead and they appeared to be getting well on top.
But the Broncos fought back with tries to Alex Walker and Abdull, both converted by Dixon to restore a two-point lead.
And when substitute Rob Butler touched down under the posts among a posse of defenders, the game looked to be in the bag for the Broncos.
But Rovers had other ideas and Drinkwater touched down under the posts for Shaw’s conversion to make it a two-point margin again with two minutes to play.
And the Robins couldn’t close the gap in the closing moments, meaning that the Broncos had earned their third win on the trot, moving two points ahead of the Robins and Leeds Rhinos.
Broncos: Alex Walker, Rhys Williams, Ryan Morgan, Elliot Kear, Kieran Dixon, Jordan Abdull, Morgan Smith, Eddie Battye, James Cunningham, Olsi Krasniqi, Jay Pitts, Matty Gee, Luke Yates; Subs: Mark Ioane, Matty Fozard, Greg Richards, Rob Butler
Tries: Smith, Walker, Abdull, Butler Goals: Dixon 5
Robins: Adam Quinlan, Ryan Shaw, Kane Linnett, Ben Crooks, Craig Hall, Josh Drinkwater, Chris Atkin, Rob Mulhern, George Lawler, Mose Masoe, Weller Hauraki, Joel Tomkins, Luis Johnson; Subs: Harvey Livett, Tommy Lee, Jimmy Keinhorst, Daniel Murray
Tries: Hauraki, Quinlan, Atkins, Drinkwater Goals: Shaw 4
A full report, photographs and comment from this game will feature in Monday’s League Express
