London Broncos target Wembley after powering past Dewsbury Rams

LONDON BRONCOS 26 DEWSBURY RAMS 16
HUW RICHARDS, New River Stadium, Saturday

VICTORY at the New River Stadium, which became the 23rd different home ground in their history, left London Broncos with high hopes of playing another eight-and-a-half miles to the north-east later in the season when the 1895 Cup final is played at Wembley.

They reached the last eight in an archetypal game of two halves, cruising to a 26-point half-time lead, but switching off after the break, although Dewsbury’s second and third tries came too late to do more than reward a spirited second half.

London head coach Mike Eccles said: “I was really delighted with the first half. That’s as good as we’ve been this season, and if we play like that we’ll give anybody trouble.”

The second half was a different story as a series of fumbles allowed Dewsbury to establish an ascendancy of their own, forcing London to defend into a long defensive stint.

Eccles was happy with the quality of the defending, but said: “We can’t go on defending so much. If you do, eventually the dam breaks.”

And he confirmed that in only their second venture into the 1895 Cup, they are keen to give their fans a trip to Wembley.

“It would be a big thing. It is something this group hasn’t done and would add to winning the Championship and playing a season in Super League.”

Fielding a team with only one change from last week’s victory over Featherstone, London established an early ascendancy with the carrying of Lewis Bienek consistently breaking the Dewsbury defence.

Marcus Stock crossed within four minutes and Bienek himself, running a diagonal line to crash over, scored nine minutes after that, giving London an early ten-point cushion.

And they continued to dominate, with the lively movement of Luke Polselli supplementing Bienek’s driving power. The Italian international claimed their third score, running at an angle to spreadeagle Dewsbury’s cover in the 24th minute, with Chris Hellec’s conversion making it 16-0.

Two more scores from Alex Walker, who continues to climb up London’s all-time record tables with classy performances at fullback, completed a formidably dominant first half.

He claimed the first after 29 minutes, plucking Connor O’Beirne’s cross-kick out of the air to plunge over, and was then the man up in support to take Curtis Davies’ pass just before the break.

With the score 26-0 and Louie Walker in the bin for tackling Davies some time after that pass, the only second-half question seemed to be by how many London would win.

But Dewsbury, as Eccles happily conceded, responded with spirit: “They were 26 points down after a problematic result last week, and they showed real heart and pride.”

Tommy Brierley crossed on the right after an interception and long run by Liam Copland on the other wing had given them a strong field position.

The rest of the half resembled a defence clinic for London before tries in the final two minutes. George Senior scored one and then picked out Copland for the other.

GAMESTAR: Lewis Bienek’s forceful carrying gave London their decisive first-half ascendancy.

GAMEBREAKER: Two early scores, the second by Bienek, gave London the cushion they enjoyed for the rest of the game.

MATCHFACTS
BRONCOS
1 Alex Walker
24 Jake Thewlis
2 Chris Hellec
20 Aaron Small
5 Liam Tindall
6 Luke Polselli
7 Connor O’Beirne
16 Kian McDermott
9 Curtis Davies
10 Lewis Bienek
11 Will Lovell
19 Lukas Mason
13 Marcus Stock
Subs (all used)
8 Huw Worthington
12 Sadiq Adebiyi
26 Jack Ryan
27 Taylor Kerr

Tries: Stock (4), Bienek (13), Polselli (24), Walker (29, 39)
Goals: Hellec 3/5

RAMS
25 Louie Walker
2 Tommy Brierley
3 Caelum Jordan
4 George Senior
22 Liam Copland
6 Dan Coates
7 Jacob Hookem
18 Jamie Field
31 Jack McShane
13 Declan Tomlinson
15 Keenen Tomlinson
11 Joe Summers
16 Louis Collinson
Subs (all used)
23 Will Shaw
8 Jackson Walker
10 Toby Everett
17 AJ Boardman