LONDON BRONCOS went down 40-0 to the Castleford Tigers at The Jungle tonight in a one-sided Super League affair.
The Broncos were second best from the first whistle, conceding in the second minute before capitulating with four tries in 11 first-half minutes to trail 30-0 at the break.
Head coach Mike Eccles was disappointed to say the least but he didn’t feel as though his side deserved a thrashing: “Going to the end is a non-negotiable and you will always get that from us.
“I didn’t think it was a 40-0 game to be honest. When they were 12-0 up I turned to Shez (Ryan Sheridan) and asked ‘how are we 12-0 down?’
“We were good physically, carrying the ball and making metres and defensively we were good in the middle.
“We had the good ball turnover and then missed the kick to touch, it was catastrophic from there in terms of points conceded and the game was gone.”
Eccles also hailed Castleford’s Tex Hoy who was superb for the Tigers on debut.
“Tex Hoy was really good tonight, that’s the Tex Hoy that can play in the NRL. He was excellent tonight.
“He’s a really good pick up for Castleford. They have got a lot of speed with the two Seniors (Innes and Louis). Rowan Milnes’ kicking game was fantastic, he boxed us in corners.
“That was a good performance from Castleford. Looking at their spine, their key players were very good with Paul McShane, Joe Westerman and Tex Hoy. They have moved on in the next couple of weeks.”
Eccles is still proud of his team following the result: “I have to pick them up. I’m still proud of them. We stand tall as a group of men and will take it on the chin.
“We need to make key improvements to our game. The issue we’ve got is we make the errors and it leads to a try.
“It’s not because we’ve got a soft underbelly we just need more resilience.”
One man that did stand out for the Broncos was halfback Oli Leyland who caused Castleford a number of problems throughout the game.
“He’s one of us, he’s someone we have been developing for a period of time. He’s probably played about 50 or 60 games for me.
“Oli’s attacking game has been good, his kicking threat his good and he gave some nice touches tonight.”
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