WIDNES VIKINGS 10 LONDON BRONCOS 20
JAMES GORDON, DCBL Stadium, Sunday
A FIRST half hat-trick from Liam Tindall was enough for London to beat Widnes and end the Championship season with their eighth win of the campaign.
After having leads turned around in recent weeks against Bradford, Oldham and Toulouse, the Broncos made a 16-0 half-time advantage pay this time to secure the fifth win on their last six visits to Widnes.
London dominated the first half and Tindall had already been tackled in to touch at the corner by Matt Fleming before he opened the scoring on 11 minutes from Alex Walker’s pass after Brandon Webster had forced a goal-line drop out with a short kick. Jack Smith missed the conversion.
Walker looked in the mood and his break and smart offload released Luke Polselli, who was felled by Mike Butt who was sent to the sinbin for holding down the Broncos stand-off.
The visitors made the man advantage pay almost immediately, Tindall strolling in where Butt would normally be off Walker’s delayed pass. Smith added the extras to make it 10-0.
London’s third try was a gift in more ways than one as Fleming spilled Connor O’Beirne’s high kick following a stoppage for an injury to back-rower Lukas Mason, with Walker scooping up the loose ball and unselfishly handing the ball to Tindall in the in-goal to complete his treble. Smith stepped up to convert from the touchline off the inside of the far post.
Another Fleming spill should have led to a fourth London try, but Webster dropped the ball himself over the line after doing the hard work in beating four Widnes defenders.
Widnes had to offer more after the break and they started the second half with intent, the returning Ryan Ince only denied in the corner by a try-saving tackle by Polselli.
But that was all they could muster in terms of real pressure before the hour mark, and instead they had defending to do at the other end, holding London up a metre short of the line on three consecutive tackles after Tom Gilmore’s 40/20 attempt had sailed out on the full and gifted London field position.
The Vikings finally got on the board on 63 minutes through Rhodri Lloyd, who was given a pre-match guard of honour alongside Wales international teammate Rhys Williams with them both retiring from rugby league at the end of the season, as he caught Gilmore’s cross-field kick to touch down. Joe Edge converted to reduce the deficit to 16-6.
Any hopes of a Widnes fightback were virtually shut down four minutes later, when Will Lovell got on the outside of his man and released a smart offload out of the back to put Webster in for a try in the right corner.
Widnes did at least have the final say on home turf in their final game of the season, Gilmore with a chip and chase over the line and he then cleverly kicked the bouncing ball across to the left for Edge to finish well.
GAMESTAR: Marcus Stock led from the front for the Broncos and created plenty of room for Alex Walker and his half-backs.
GAMEBREAKER: Brandon Webster-Mansfield’s try shut down any faint hope of a Widnes fightback.
MATCHFACTS
VIKINGS
3 Matty Fleming
5 Mike Butt
17 Max Roberts
4 Joe Edge
2 Ryan Ince
1 Jack Owens
7 Tom Gilmore
8 Dan Murray
14 Matty Fozard
13 Morgan McWhirter
11 Rhodri Lloyd
23 Ben Condon
20 Lewis Hall
Subs (all used)
15 Liam Bent
18 Nick Gregson
26 Finlay Irwin
30 Jack Bibby
Tries: Lloyd (63), Edge (71)
Goals: Edge 1/2
Sinbin: Butt (17) – holding down
BRONCOS
1 Alex Walker
33 Jack Smith
4 Brandon Webster-Mansfield
3 Ethan Natoli
5 Liam Tindall
6 Luke Polselli
7 Connor O’Beirne
10 Lewis Bienek
9 Curtis Davies
17 Jensen Monk
11 Will Lovell
19 Lukas Mason
13 Marcus Stock
Subs (all used)
14 Kobe Rugless
22 Matthew Ross
26 Robert Oakley
34 Tommy Porter
Tries: Tindall (11, 19, 32), Webster-Mansfield (67)
Goals: Smith 2/4
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-4, 0-10, 0-16; 6-16, 6-20, 10-20
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Vikings: Matty Fozard
Broncos: Marcus Stock
Penalty count: 4-6
Half-time: 0-16
Referee: Tara Jones
Attendance: 2,529