JASON DEMETRIOU hailed his side’s outstanding defence as London Broncos claimed the first cup success in their 46-year history with victory in the 1895 Cup final.

The Broncos stayed firm in an error-strewn first half against Widnes Vikings, before pulling clear in the final quarter for a 32-10 win.

He said: “If there was a script for how to beat yourself, we were ticking every box. Credit to Widnes for the pressure they put us under, they barely made a mistake for 60 minutes. But our tryline defence was outstanding and it had to be, especially in the first half.

“We’re a pretty immature side in terms of big games, so the more we play in them, the more we learn.

“There was a moment in the game where we could have easily got agitated and start falling out with each other. But there were moments where they took two points and kicked off the pitch, and that fuelled us to say we were on top – they’re not backing themselves to score, so that gave us confidence to keep going.”

As for Widnes, coach Allan Coleman admitted only a faultless display would have been enough to beat London.

Coleman said: “You could see in that last 15 minutes that we were just running on empty. The game was too quick. I’m a bit disappointed with the scoreline – I think it flattered them a little bit.

“We spoke all week about any opportunities for points we take them. We knew points would be difficult.

“We had to be clean and we weren’t, we went error-for-error with them. Whoever beats them in a big game will have to be faultless. A big part of the game is where we fumble it under the sticks, it just took it away from us.”