MIDLANDS HURRICANES 24 LONDON BRONCOS 62
IAN GOLDEN, Avery Fields, Saturday

MIDLANDS put up a fight against London, but in the end, the difference between full-time and part-time players showed.

However, the Hurricanes, in front of their biggest crowd of the season with the largest away support, knowing that they’d scored the most points against London this season of any Championship club.

The first half was close, with the only major difference being two positional errors, which led to the first two London tries, both scored in the corner by Brandon Webster-Mansfield, with James Meadows converting both.

Midlands’ pressure paid off on 23 minutes after a strong run from Matty Chrimes, who palmed the ball off to Aidan McGowan, who slipped past his markers to score just to the right of the sticks with Sully Medforth converting.

London regained their two-score advantage when Finley Glare burst through the centre, beating off all challenges to score by the posts.

The fourth try quickly followed, this time with another PNG international, Gairo Voro, in under the sticks.

But Midlands finished the half with a moment of magic.

Following a penalty, Chrimes opened up a gap for McGowan again. He was stopped, but from the next play, Medforth ran around two London players to catch his own chip kick and score and then convert his own try.

London increased their lead with their first set of the second half, albeit assisted by a six-again, with Webster-Mansfield completing his hat-trick. Meadows missed the conversion attempt.

Connor O’Beirne had a try chalked off for crossing and, from the resulting penalty, Midlands mounted a move over the length of the field that was eventually finished by James Woodburn-Hall powering his way through to score his first try in Hurricanes colours, with the conversion putting the score back to 28-18.

But mishandling from a kick near their own line, Midlands gave away a scrum, and Glare easily ran over for London to score his second try of the game, with Meadows again unable to convert.

And Webster-Mansfield put the game beyond the reach of the Midlands just after the hour mark as he nicely slipped through the Hurricanes’ back-line to ground under the sticks.

He was only prevented from scoring a fifth try after Ryan Johnson beat him to a high lob and sent the ball into touch.

London did score again, following a six-again, with Siliva Havili being awarded a try, despite it looking like he’d dropped the ball.

But there was no doubt about their next try, as Scottish international fullback Alex Walker broke through to score under the sticks.

And London soon scored their tenth try of the game.. After being awarded a penalty in front of the sticks, O’Beirne reached out to touch down.

Midlands weren’t finished yet. They only spent five minutes in London’s half after the break, but they made use of those minutes when Elliot Morris got on the end of a grubber to score under the posts for their fourth try of the game, which Medforth converted.

But London had the final say with a Ben Hursey try and Meadows goal.

GAMESTAR: Two of his tries may have been gifts, but he still had to score them, and you can’t argue with a four-try haul from Brandon Webster-Mansfield.

GAMEBREAKER: Webster-Mansfield’s fourth try, scored on the hour, gave London a 38-18 lead and everyone knew that was that.

MATCHFACTS

HURRICANES
1 Todd Horner
22 Cian Tyrer
3 Ryan Johnson
2 Matty Chrimes
23 Aidan McGowan
30 James Woodburn-Hall
19 Sully Medforth
8 Jon Luke Kirby
14 Brandon Moore
10 Tyler Dickinson
11 Tom Wilkinson
21 Zach Jebson
15 Elliot Morris
Subs (all used)
9 Aiden Roden
13 Mikey Wood
16 Zeus Silk
28 Isaac Shaw

Tries: McGowan (23), Medforth (38), Woodburn-Hall (48), Morris (74)
Goals: Medforth 4/4

BRONCOS
22 Alex Walker
20 Brandon Webster-Mansfield
18 James Meadows
27 Ted Davidson
2 Elliot Wallis
23 Gairo Voro
7 Dean Hawkins
8 Reagan Campbell-Gillard
13 Siliva Havili
10 Emarly Bitungane
11 Luke Smith
19 Ben Hursey
15 Sadiq Adebiyi
Subs (all used)
6 Connor O’Beirne
14 Finley Glare
17 Marcus Stock
24 Lewis Bienek

Tries: Webster-Mansfield (3, 15, 42, 61), Glare (27, 53), Voro (30), Havili (65), Walker (68), O’Beirne (71), Hursey (78)
Goals: Meadows 9/11

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 0-12, 6-12, 6-18, 6-24, 12-24; 12-28, 18-28, 18-32, 18-38, 18-44, 18-50, 18-56, 24-56, 24-62

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Hurricanes: Sully Medforth, Broncos: Brandon Webster-Mansfield

Penalty count: 7-3
Half-time: 12-24
Referee: Matty Lynn
Attendance: 519