Betfred Super League Round 10: Leeds Rhinos vs London Broncos match report

Despite what appeared to be an improved visual display from the Broncos yesterday evening, a series of mistakes including 51 missed tackles eventually led to their downfall once more. On a positive note, Ethan Natoli secured his first Super League appearance AND Super League try- congratulations Ethan!

The first half began with Oli Leyland kicking from left to right and it would be fair to suggest that every Broncos fan would have had that sinking feelings in their stomach once more from the get-go as Leeds manage to make an excellent break and force themselves 35m down the pitch on their first play of the game. This was then followed up in the 2^nd minute with a Brodie Croft try, given away far too easy as Kennedy and Stock switch off and allow Leeds’ playmaker to burst through a gap which should never have been presented to score the Rhino’s first try of the game.

However, as seems to be a frequent occurrence this season, London manage to find their feet after conceding early on. Some good back and forth play, including another Alex Walker last man tackle to deny Croft for his second as well as some big powerful running from Butler & Stock saw the match hang in the balance.

The first play which the Broncos gave to Leeds since their early try came in the 11^th minute where Robbie Storey caught a Leeds’ pass in a well offside position, gifting the home side a penalty in the Broncos half. After some good defending of the line by the Broncos, including two turnovers on the try-line and a fantastic kick by Oli Leyland to put the Broncos in good field position, more missed tackles by Sam Davis & Jacob Jones saw Croft run the length of the field and offload to Handley who scores the try uncontested and just like that, the Broncos found themselves 12-0 down in 15 minutes.

Once more, despite the two scores, London carried on fighting hard. Some slick hands by the Broncos saw Miloudi’s offload come off a Leeds hand out of bounds, giving London a repeat set of six in Rhino’s territory and an excellent Kershaw recovery from a Leed’s mistake saw London take the front foot for a good period of time and this came to fruition when Ethan Natoli scored his excellent first Super League try in the 26^th minute. A lovely ball from Leyland to Walker who then makes a simple pass to Natoli who fends off Croft and runs 15m to slide into the Rhino’s try line.

Furthermore, it would be fair to say that another feature of the Broncos play this season has been that once they have gotten themselves into the game with a try, they often make a mistake and allow the opposition team to immediately respond. Tonight was no different.

After some good defending from the Broncos to deny Leeds an immediate response, Robbie Storey knocks the ball on 5m outside of the Broncos try line only 3 minutes after Natoli scored his try and of course, you cannot give an opportunity like this away against any Super League team but particularly a Leeds Rhinos team which has lost their last 4 games straight at home. As can be imagined, Leeds scored their third try of the night in the 32^nd minute after McDonnell grounds a chip through the Broncos defence and then another big 40m break by Leeds saw the home side score their 4^th try of the half, this time by Louis Roberts.

Half-time: Leeds Rhinos 22 London Broncos 4

Coming out into the second half, the Broncos would have been hoping that they could settle into this half better than they had the first. However, this was not the case as, in the 41^st minute, Mickael Goudemand scored the Rhino’s fifth try of the afternoon and then more missed tackles allowed Jack Sinfield to score his try for the night, making the score 32-4 to the Rhinos only 46 minutes into the game.

From this point, the Broncos had a ten-minute spell where they looked more threatening going forward than they had at any part of the game but mistakes cost them once more. In the fifty second minute, James Meadows produced a great, line breaking pass to Rob Butler who had 25m of clear grass ahead of him but when it came time to make the pass back to Meadows, it was spilt forward and Leeds’ regained possession.

London’s second try of the night came in the 54^th minute when Leyland’s cross field kick was knocked backwards by Kershaw and picked up by Kennedy and, after some quick hands, Walker produces one of the offloads of the season to Robbie Storey who grounds the ball and scores a brilliant try.

Walker’s excellent performance then continued into the 62^nd minute when he chased a high kick from Tison and then took the ball out of Miller’s hands, placing the Broncos in more dangerous field position. But, once again, the attempted offload was dropped and a knock on was given in favour of the Rhino’s.

Off of this scrum, Rob Butler puts in a high shot on Sangare, putting Leeds in dangerous field position but London manages to stand strong defensively as Storey sees Handley off the pitch 3m outside of the Broncos try line, giving the ball back to London. Once again though, another London mistake costs them an opportunity to score as Meadows decides to pass the ball to Davis who is running into traffic rather than take the ball out wide into the space and Davis’ can’t keep hold of the ball as the contact is made, gifting Leeds the ball back once more.

Leeds got their 8^th and final try of the afternoon in the 69^th minute as Justin Sangare burst through the Broncos defensive line to score his first try of the Super League season.

Two minutes later, in the 71^st minute, London win a penalty after some off camera shenanigans between Miloudi and a couple of the Rhinos’ players and this seemed to be give London some life to finish the game.

The Broncos had some very good spells of play in the final 10 minutes, the first of which came in the 75^th minute where London put together some great metres after putting the ball through the hands as effectively as they have all season but Leyland’s crossfield kick to Miloudi took the wrong bounce and went out of play, otherwise it may well have been time for London’s third try of the afternoon. Moreover, to finish the game, London put together one of the best drives that they had done all game but were unable to score due to the chip through going dead to finish the game.

Full Time- Leeds Rhinos 46- London Broncos 8

Penalties: 2-2

Half-time: 22-4

Full- time: 46-8

Attendance: 13,259

Referee: Aaron Moore

Leeds Rhinos

1) Lachie Miller, 5) Ash Handley, 24) Luis Roberts, 12) Rhyse Martin, 33) Riley Lumb, 6) Brodie Croft, 21) Jack Sinfield, 17) Justin Sangare, 14) Jarrod O’Connor, 8) Mikolaj Oledzki, 16) James McDonnell, 18) Mickael Goudemand, 13) Cameron Smith.

Interchanges: 15) Sam Lisone, 23) Leon Ruan, 29) Alfie Edgell, 9) Andy Ackers.

Try’s: Brodie Croft (2) Ash Handley (15) McDonnell (32) Luis Roberts (38) Mickael Goudemand (41) Jack Sinfield (46) Sam Lisone (58) Justin Sangare (69)

Conversions: Rhys Martin 7/8

Sin-bins: N/A

London Broncos

1) Alex Walker, 2) Lee Kershaw, 21) Robbie Storey, 3) Jarred Bassett, 4) Hakim Miloudi, 20) Oli Leyland, 34) Ugo Tison, 19) Rhys Kennedy, 9) Sam Davis, 17) Sadiq Adebiyi, 11) Will Lovell ©, 29) Jacob Jones, 15) Marcus Stock.

Interchanges: 33) Harvey Makin, 7) James Meadows, 12) Ethan Natoli, 8) Rob Butler.

Try’s: Ethan Natoli (26) Robbie Storey (54)

Conversions: Oli Leyland 0/2

Sin-bins: N/A