SWINTON LIONS 6 LONDON BRONCOS 84
IAN RIGG, Heywood Road, Sunday
SWINTON scored first – but then London ran in 15 tries to claim a huge victory.
Scrum-half James Meadows scored 28 of his side’s points with a dozen conversions and a touchdown.
Swinton took the lead when great play down the left side ended with Tom Ratchford finishing off the move and Reece Briers converting.
The Broncos then started to come strong, but the home defence was holding out well – at least until Meadows found a gap to score by the posts on 13 minutes, and add the conversion.
Liam Tindall then finished off a move wide out midway through the half.
Swinton’s Aaron Willis was held up on 27 minutes, and this seemed to spark the Broncos, who cut loose with three tries in six minutes.
Morea Morea grabbed a brace and Finley Glare darted from halfback to score between the posts, with Meadows improving all three for 28-8.
With less than a minute to go to the break, the Broncos were awarded a penalty and from this some rapid passing led to Luke Smith scoring on the right.
The visitors knocked on at the restart, but Swinton then lost the ball in the next tackle to put the Broncos on the attack, and Tindall added his second after brushing through some tackles, with Meadows converting off a touchline.
Morea added his third on 44 minutes, again improved, before Swinton had another good chance from the restart but again lost the ball.
Neil Tchamambe finished off a nice move on 48 minutes, when Meadows again goaled, so bringing up the 50.
Again Swinton produced good line pressure, Cameron Bate being grounded just short, but from the next set, the Broncos went downfield and Brandon Webster-Mansfield went in from close range.
Webster-Mansfield scored another after 63 minutes when he broke free to pounce by the posts and leave Meadows with a simple conversion.
The capital side cut loose in the final 15 minutes with Morea scoring his fourth and Epel Kapinias, Marcus Stock and Glare also going over. Meadows was on the mark from the tee for all of those.
Just before the last play of the match, Kapinias and George Roby were sent to the sin bin for fighting.
GAMESTAR: London fullback Morea Morea claimed four well-taken tries and had his hands in others.
GAMEBREAKER: The visitors’ attack was too skilful and strong for Swinton.
MATCHFACTS
LIONS
1 Louie Roberts
24 Ethan Fitzgerald
20 Adam Jones
29 Hamza Butt
2 Connor Parkinson
21 Tom Ratchford
6 Reece Briers
18 Bobby Shingler
9 George Roby
22 Jordan Brown
12 Aaron Willis
31 Finlay Irwin
11 Gav Rodden
Subs (all used)
4 Aaron Lynch
17 Trent Kelly-Duffy
26 Charlie McCurrie
32 Cameron Bate
Tries: Ratchford (1)
Goals: Briers 1/1
Sin bin: Roby (79) – fighting
BRONCOS
1 Morea Morea
26 Neil Tchamambe
2 Elliot Wallis
20 Brandon Webster-Mansfield
5 Liam Tindall
23 Gairo Voro
7 James Meadows
10 Emarly Bitungane
9 Sam Davis
16 Epel Kapinias
12 Jack Croft
11 Luke Smith
17 Marcus Stock
Subs (all used)
14 Finley Glare
6 Connor O’Beirne
19 Ben Hursey-Hord
15 Sadiq Adebiyi
Tries: Meadows (13), Tindall (22, 42), Morea (29, 35, 44, 65), Glare (32, 79), Smith (39), Tchamambe (48), Webster-Mansfield (57, 63), Kapinias (68), Stock (76)
Goals: Meadows 12/15
Sin bin: Kapinias (79) – fighting
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 6-6, 6-10, 6-16, 6-22, 6-28, 6-32; 6-38, 6-44, 6-50, 6-54, 6-60, 6-66, 6-72, 6-78, 6-84
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Lions: Charlie McCurrie; Broncos: Morea Morea
Penalty count: 7-10
Half-time: 6-32
Referee: Scott Mikalauskas
Attendance: 662