The Championship’s only two remaining unbeaten sides clash in Ealing on Sunday – and London Broncos coach Danny Ward believes the prospect of a top-of-the-table tussle between big city slickers London and Toronto is something the whole of rugby league should be excited about.
Ward’s Broncos put their perfect record at the start of the new season on the line against Paul Rowley’s Wolfpack this weekend – with the Canadians only a point behind London at the top of the Championship.
The London coach admits it would be a big statement for his side to make it four wins from four – but believes the mere fact two huge cities are squaring off can only be a good thing for the sport.
He told TotalRL: “We’re looking forward to it, because it’s something a bit different – it’s London versus Toronto. That’s something the game should be excited about seeing.
“The more teams like that which appear in big international cities on a huge scale, the better it is for rugby league – and we should be shouting about it. In terms of them as a team, I can only go on what I’ve seen so far but they’re a good side. It’s another massive game, without a shadow of a doubt. You saw what a great season they had last year, and we’ll have to be on top of our game to get the win.”
On the prospect of extending their unbeaten start, Ward said: “It’d be a massive statement. We wouldn’t be getting carried away as we’re only four games in and there’s a hell of a long way to go, but we’re fully focussed on extending this start this week.”
The Broncos made it three wins from three last week with victory against Featherstone – though Ward wasn’t entirely happy with the performance despite such a comprehensive victory.
“I suppose I’m never happy as a head coach!” he laughed.
“On reflection, we played some good stuff in that first half which was very pleasing. We scored some good tries but it was that last 20 minutes which really let us down. We switched off and we stopped playing defensively; we got a bit loose at times. But look, we’re three from three, and we should be happy with that.
“We’re always going to chase that perfect performance, even if as a coach it’ll never arrive. We’re striving to get better, even with this good start, and we’re all about improving the following week. You could see when the players came off that field that, despite having a big win against a good Featherstone side that they were disappointed. That’s a good sign.”
London, however, will be without the services of forward Daniel Harrison for up to six weeks due to injury, Ward has confirmed.