LONDON BRONCOS 48 SHEFFIELD EAGLES 4
DAN FOWLER, Cherry Red Records, Saturday
LONDON’S unbeaten record in the Championship continued in fine style, breezing past a faltering Sheffield outfit.
With the Broncos asserting their dominance with two tries inside the first four minutes, the capital club didn’t look back as they kept their foot on the gas and had racked up 40 points shortly after half-time.
The return of Reagan Campbell-Gillard was a notable one for London. The Aussie talisman played his part in the game’s opening try as it was his break and offload to Morea Morea that split the Eagles defence, Dean Hawkins in support of Morea to touch down, and James Meadows converted.
After winning a penalty on the first tackle of the restart set, London were eyeing up back-to-back scores. They got just that when fullback Morea went over untouched, and Meadows converted despite the ball hitting the post en route.
Sheffield did have an opportunity to get their first points on the board, with Alex Foster going close in the tenth minute but the former Castleford back-rower knocked on just before hitting the whitewash.
Having stopped the bleeding momentarily, Sheffield succumbed to more London pressure when some smart hands to the right flank ended with Liam Tindall dotting down. Meadows’ first blot on the conversion sheet came as he couldn’t hit the target from the touchline.
Two tries in the final ten minutes of the first period all but sealed victory for the rampant Broncos, who went into the break 28 points up. Papua New Guinea powerhouse Epel Kapinias had too much strength for opposite numbers Jimmy Beckett and Blake Broadbent.
With the clock ticking down to half-time, an opportunistic Brandon Webster-Mansfield helped himself to a clever score as he feinted a dummy-half pass from out wide to instead scoot over. Meadows added the extras to both tries.
Whatever Craig Lingard said to his troops at half-time, the desired effect didn’t occur as a first set knock-on from Beckett was compounded by the Broncos’ silky attack, Elliot Wallis offloading to Morea who completed his brace and Meadows converted.
Morea’s fellow PNG star Kapinias completed his own double on 48 minutes, on the shoulder of Hawkins who crafted a well-worked break alongside Connor O’Beirne. Meadows’ conversion brought up the 40-point mark for the hosts.
Despite London dominating the scoreboard, Sheffield did eventually break their duck and in spectacular fashion. A looping pass from Joe Brown was taken in by Billy Walkley who provided eye-catching acrobatics to touch down in the corner. Kai Morgan couldn’t convert.
Sheffield had managed to steady the ship defensively in the second half but London made their own luck to keep the scoreboard ticking over. A charge-down from the head of Ben Hursey-Hord was then collected by the forward and a couple of tackles later saw Gairo Voro get over the whitewash despite stumbling along the way. Morea took over kicking duties and was successful.
To add more salt into the Eagles wounds, their current injury situation only got worse as they had to activate their 18th man – Corey Johnson – in the final ten minutes of the game as debutant Beckett exited the contest.
The final points came in the final minute as Voro – the Broncos’ third goal-kicker of the game – tagged on a penalty goal.
GAMESTAR: Morea Morea was a real live-wire for the Broncos and the PNG star will only get better.
GAMEBREAKER: Brandon Webster-Mansfield’s try a minute from the half-time break will have hurt Sheffield.
MATCHFACTS
BRONCOS
1 Morea Morea
5 Liam Tindall
20 Brandon Webster-Mansfield
2 Elliot Wallis
26 Neil Tchamambe
23 Gairo Voro
7 Dean Hawkins
8 Reagan Campbell-Gillard
18 James Meadows
10 Emarly Bitungane
11 Luke Smith
21 Will Lovell
13 Siliva Havili
Subs (all used)
6 Connor O’Beirne
16 Epel Kapinias
17 Marcus Stock
19 Ben Hursey-Hord
Tries: Hawkins (1), Morea (4, 41), Tindall (16), Kapinias (31, 48), Webster-Mansfield (39), Voro (66)
Goals: Meadows 6/7, Morea 1/1, Voro 1/1
EAGLES
2 Joe Brown
21 Ryan Millar
4 Kieran Gill
3 Josh Hodson
5 Billy Walkley
18 Lennie Ellis
6 Kai Morgan
22 Masi Matongo
17 Harry Bowes
10 Martyn Reilly
23 Alex Foster
13 Jack Bussey
15 George Griffin
Subs (all used)
14 Reiss Butterworth
16 Blake Broadbent
20 Lewis Peachey
– Jimmy Beckett
18th man (used)
9 Corey Johnson
Tries: Walkley (53)
Goals: Morgan 0/1
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 12-0, 16-0, 22-0, 28-0; 34-0, 40-0, 40-4, 46-4, 48-4
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Broncos: Morea Morea; Eagles: Josh Hodson
Penalty count: 6-5
Half-time: 28-0
Referee: Denton Arnold