LONDON BRONCOS 62 KEIGHLEY COUGARS 6
DAVID BALLHEIMER, Richmond Athletic Ground, Sunday
LONDON reached the last eight of the 1895 Cup with a comfortable eleven-try win over Keighley, who had to play the last ten minutes with twelve men having lost a player to injury after making their last interchange.
Alex Max has been out since the Bradford Challenge Cup tie in February and it took him four minutes to show what the Broncos had been missing. His darting run gifted an easy try for Rob Mathias, another player coming back from a long lay-off.
Dean Hawkins missed the conversion, the only one of the ten he attempted, and he made it 10–0 when improving Gairo Voro’s try, the halfback being on Mathias’s shoulder when he picked up a dropped ball by Emmanuel Waine.
Waine atoned for his handling error by scoring the Keighley try after 15 minutes, picking up a fumbled catch from London when Connor Saynor chipped over the top. Izaac Farrell turned the four into six.
Connor O’Beirne had replaced Reagan Campbell-Gillard and almost immediately burst through tacklers to score beside the posts.
After Hawkins had a try ruled out for a foot in touch, Morea Morea went on a silky 50-metre glide through half-a-dozen tacklers to touch down.
Another possible London score was ruled out when Lewis Bienek went over, but he was ruled to have been held up.
O’Beirne scored the last try of the first half as London profited from a Keighley attempted interception to get seven tackles inside the Cougars’ 30.
Voro started the second half with another scintillating run to touch down beside the posts and that was followed by a try for Elliott Wallis after the hard work was done by Mathias.
After 56 minutes, Marcus Stock scored a close-range try as the Broncos overloaded the right side.
Max got his name on the scoresheet in the 59th minute, running onto a Will Lovell pass on a final tackle play.
London legend Lovell, making his club-record 203rd appearance, didn’t score a try, but he did at least have an assist.
The Broncos almost stretched their lead further with another close-range effort, but once again, the referee ruled held up in-goal. This time, however, it was on the last tackle, so it was a turnover.
The mismatch between the two teams was probably best shown by the tenth London score. Max finished off the move, but Campbell-Gillard, then Emarly Bitungane, the two starting props, had burst 50 metres downfield.
In the 68th minute, Max eschewed his chance of a hat-trick by passing to Neil Tchamambe, whose score in the corner ensured that all of the London back six had registered tries.
By now, Hawkins was sitting on the bench, so Jimmy Meadows attempted the conversion from touch, but his kick kissed the outside of the near post.
The last ten minutes saw concerted Keighley pressure, David Foggin-Johnston needing three tacklers to bring him down and then, after a couple of repeat sets, Max Clarke was stopped centimetres from the line.
GAMESTAR: Will Lovell, now the Broncos’ all-time leading appearance-maker, gave a typical 80 minutes of tackling and hard running.
GAMEBREAKER: Morea Morea’s first try after 29 minutes made it a 16-point margin, which always looked like being enough for London.
MATCHFACTS
BRONCOS
1 Morea Morea
2 Elliot Wallis
3 Alex Max
4 Robert Mathias
26 Neil Tchamambe
23 Gairo Voro
7 Dean Hawkins
8 Reagan Campbell-Gillard
9 Sam Davis
10 Emarly Bitungane
21 Will Lovell
12 Jack Croft
13 Siliva Havili
Subs (all used)
6 Connor O’Beirne
17 Marcus Stock
18 Jimmy Meadows
24 Lewis Bienek
Tries: Mathias (2), Voro (9, 43), O’Beirne (25, 35), Morea (29), Wallis (46), Stock (56), Max (59, 66), Tchamambe (68)
Goals: Hawkins 9/10, Meadows 0/1
COUGARS
1 Connor Sayner
2 Brad Holroyd
4 Max Clarke
18 Oli Whitford
19 David Foggin-Johnston
6 Izaac Farrell
35 Will Groves
11 Lucas Green
9 Oli Burton
17 Jordan Schofield
21 Alfie Dean
33 Emmanuel Waine
27 George Hill
Subs (all used)
8 Dan Parker
20 Leo Skerrett-Evans
24 Ben Dean
26 Nathan Rushworth
Tries: Waine (15)
Goals: Farrell 1/1
SCORING SEQUENCE: 4-0, 10-0, 10-6, 16-6, 22-6, 28-6; 34-6, 40-6, 46-6, 52-6, 58-6, 62-6
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Broncos: Morea Morea; Cougars: Max Clarke
Penalty count: 3-8
Half-time: 28-6
Referee: Adam Williams