DAVID HUGHES STATEMENT- 23/9/24

After 27 eventful years of which we spent 20 years in the Super League, I have decided on behalf of myself and the Hughes family that we will step down at the end of the season. We will make every effort to facilitate anyone interested in taking over the club to lead it through the Championship. We would ask any interested party to contact Jason Loubser at London Broncos at Jason.loubser@londonbroncosrl.com

The Broncos ended their season on an unfortunate low this evening as we came up against a Warrington team which is primed and ready for the Playoffs. From start to finish, the Wolves put on a clinic both offensively & defensively and solidified their third-place position. The first half was a defensive and offensive clinic by Warrington Wolves. The Broncos didn’t even get a phase of play beyond the Warrington 20m line. On the other side of the field, Warrington contained London immensely well & on most sets, didn’t even let London out of their own 20m line. The game began exactly how the Broncos wouldn’t have liked as Warrington got a penalty inside the Broncos half due to a Lovell high shot. After sending the ball deep into the Broncos half, London was lucky not to concede in the third minute as Miloudi did just enough to make the tackle on Thewlis into touch to prevent him from getting over the line. However, the defensive effort by London was quickly undone in the tenth minute as George Williams made a long, looping pass over Kershaw’s head to Matty Ashton who ran the ball over to score his first try of the evening. Only four minutes later, history repeated itself as Matty Ashton was over the try line once more to add four more points to the Warrington score tally. When watching the game from afar it is hard to tell whether the try was scored due to poor tackling & defensive intensity by London or the fact that Warrington are truly so good that they can make scoring look easy. My guess is the latter. London had a brief period of about three phases into the Warrington half as a kicking mistake gave London the ball on the halfway line, but Leyland’s attempted pass went forward, and Warrington immediately regained possession of the ball. London made a mistake once more only three minutes later as Leyland’s attempted pass missed the receiver and went out of bounds- an easy let off for Warrington who made the most of the mistake as they were in to score their third try of the half just two minutes later, courtesy this time of Matty Nicholson. London were truly pinned back in their half for the following ten minutes with Miloudi being tackled immediately before he can get the opportunity to do his usual tricks and offloads. London finally looked to have gotten a let off in the 32 nd minute as they were awarded a penalty for a high shot on Natoli, just a few meters away from their try line. However, the Broncos could not break down the Warrington defensive effort and on the next possession, Matty Ashton made his way back down the pitch to score a first half hattrick for the home side. Just three minutes later, with two minutes to go until half time, Warrington made the Broncos pay yet again as Lindop runs most of the pitch and evades three tackles to score a break away try to end the half. A heap of work is needed here for the Broncos to have any chance of even making their way into the Warrington 20m line, let alone to score. Huge 40 minutes to go. HALF TIME: WARRINGTON WOLVES 26-0 LONDON BRONCOS Heading into the beginning of the second half it was clear to see that Warrington were going to carry on as they left off in the first half as Lindop, who scored to close the first half, scored three minutes into the second half. The Broncos had one of their only chances in the game in the 45 th minute as Natoli dived on a loose ball by Warrington in their half and London eventually made their way past Warrington’s 20m line for the first time this evening but unfortunately Lovell was tackled on the fifth and Warrington regained possession of the ball. In the forty ninth minute, Warrington made London pay once again as Harrison bundled his way over the try line to score a try before Thewlis got himself over the line just 3 minutes later to get a try of his own. London had another brief chance in the 55 th minute as Warrington knock on, giving the Broncos a scrum in the Wolves half but the ball is wasted, and Warrington get the ball back via a scrum. After some back and forth play, Warrington had the ball over the line in the 63 rd minute but the Video Referee determined that the ball had been held up. However, in the 66 th minute, the Wolves made up for the previous try with Thewlis scoring his second try of the second half. 4 minutes later, in the 70 th minute, Matty Ashton made a huge break who put a try on a platter for Ben Currie to score his first Super League try of the year. Despite a goal line drop out for Warrington in the 76 th minute, the Broncos cannot put any form of strong attack together and the game, and London’s Super League season, came to an end. FULL TIME: WARRINGTON WOLVES 54-0 LONDON BRONCOS Penalties conceded: 2-1 HALF TIME: 26-0 FULL TIME: 54-0 Warrington Wolves: Team: 1) Matt Dufty, 2) Josh Thewlis, 33) Aaron Lindop, 3) Toby King, 5) Matty Ashton, 6) George Williams, 7) Josh Drinkwater, 41) Luke Yates, 9) Danny Walker, 16) Zane Musgrove, 42) John Bateman, 13) Matty Nicholson, 11) Ben Currie. Interchanges: 32) Sam Powell, 34) Max Wood, 17) Jordy Crowther, 8) James Harrison. Try: Matty Ashton (10, 14, 35), Matty Nicholson (21, 66), Arron Lindop (38, 42), James Harrison (50), Thewlis (53), Ben Currie (70). Conversion: Thewlis 7/10 Sin-bin: Penalty Kicks: London Broncos: Team: 23) Josh Rourke, 2) Lee Kershaw, 12) Ethan Natoli, 3) Jarred Bassett, 4) Hakim Miloudi, 20) Oli Leyland, 6) Jack Campagnolo, 8) Rob Butler, 29) Jacob Jones, 19) Rhys Kennedy, 11) Will Lovell, 17) Sadiq Adebiyi, 15) Marcus Stock. Interchanges: 34) Ugo Tison, 10) Lewis Bienek. 7) James Meadows, 18) Emmanuel Waine. Try: Conversion: Sin-bin: Penalty Kicks:

TEAM NEWS: Warrington Wolves vs London Broncos Here is your starting line-up for this evening’s final Super League fixture of the 2024 season. Sam Davis misses out through injury so Jacob Jones starts as hooker with Sadiq Adebiyi returning to the starting line-up in the second row. After picking up a knee injury against Castleford in the game at Ebbsfleet in July, James Meadows features in the matchday squad and is named as an interchange. The team in full is;

The Broncos have their final game of the 2024 Super League season tomorrow as we face off against Warrington Wolves for the third time this season in the Super League & fourth time in all competitions. When we faced Warrington earlier in the season at the Cherry Red Records Stadium, the Wolves took the win in Round 5 and picked up another win on Round 21. Warrington were also the team which knocked us out of the Challenge Cup in Round 6 on their way to the final at Wembley. See below for the highlights of the Super League fixtures: London Broncos vs Warrington Wolves highlights (Super League Round 5):

Warrington Wolves vs London Broncos is a matchup which is the fifth most frequent in Broncos Super League history with the fixture taking place on 45 occasions & 56 times in all competitions. Out of these 56 fixtures, London have won 18 times & lost 38 times. Warrington & London have already met three times this season (Round 5, Challenge Cup Round 6 & Round 21) with all three games going in the way of Warrington’s favour. See the videos below for the highlights of our two Super League games. London have taken on Warrington away from home on 26 occasions between 1981-2024, winning 6 and losing 20. London Broncos vs Warrington Wolves highlights (Super League Round 5):

SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT: Warrington Wolves vs London Broncos Mike Eccles has named his 21-man squad to take on the Warrington Wolves at The Halliwell Jones in the final Super League fixture of the season. There is just one change to the squad from the one that travelled to face Catalans Dragons in Round 26 and that see’s Sam Davis drop out with a calf injury and is replaced by Dan Hoyes. The 21-man squad in full is;

Despite giving everything to seal the win which firmly moves us off the bottom of the table, the Broncos left Perpignan empty handed as Catalans showed their individual quality to score two second half try’s which keeps them in Playoff contention moving into the final week of the regular season. Nobody in the South of France would have thought that the Broncos would have defended so valiantly and used their chances so effectively when the Dragons kicked to the Broncos from right to left at 9pm French time. The first few minutes of the game revealed very quickly the intentions of both sides- Catalans were looking to physically power their way through the Broncos defence and the Broncos were not going to go down in today’s fixture without a fight. In the fifth minute, Navarette got over the try line but was held up after a dropped Kershaw interception attempt, gifting the home side some great field position. Thankfully, nothing came of the rest of this set and London ended up winning the penalty after Catalans were offside from the scrum after a knock on. The biggest fright of the first half for London came in the sixteenth minute as Kershaw decided to bite on defence and go for the tackle on Yaha but Abdul faked the pass and threw to the winger, Romano, who had acres of space to break but once more, London defend very well as Campagnolo got across to make the tackle. London had a moment just two minutes later, in the eighteenth minute, where Rourke caught Leyland’s high kick just a few meters away from the Catalans try line but his attempted pass to Bassett went forward which was very unfortunate for London as if the pass met the hands of Bassett in a legal manor, it would have been a certain try. From this point up until the 30 th minute it was all out pressure from Catalans and absolute heroic defence for the Broncos. Sam Tompkins particularly was impactful in this period as he used his years of experience to get the home side in dangerous positions. However, the Dragons could just not get the ball over the try line as the Broncos held up potential try’s on two more occasions to keep the score level. It was in the 30 th minute that London got the breakthrough. The move began on the halfway line as Catalans conceded a scrum due to a forward pass and, after a couple of powerful phases by Bienek & Waine to move the team forward, Campagnolo did well to notice the quick defensive line of Catalans and, after a couple of fake passes to potential receivers, made a longer pass across the field to Lee Kershaw who can run over to score. Leyland makes the conversion and makes the score 0-6 with a few minutes left of the first half. There was a brief nervy moment for London before the half time buzzer went as Rourke was dragged out of play by the Dragons defence on the first phase just 15m away from the Broncos try line but a handling error by Catalans neutralised their attacking opportunity. London took the scrum, played two phases and saw the half out to get back into the sheds with the lead. HALF TIME- CATALANS DRAGONS 0-6 LONDON BRONCOS As we got into the second half it was clear to see that the Broncos came out of the dressing room with the same intensity and determination which they had been playing with in the first half. Two errors by Catalans, one a knock on and the second a high shot on Lovell, gave London opportunities to add to their lead which Leyland made the most of as he used the latter offence to take a shot at goal which he successfully converted giving London a two score lead just three minutes into the second half. The beginning of Catalans’ second half attacking threat came in the 49 th minute as the video referee took time off to see whether it was Miloudi or Tom Davies had got the final touch off Tompkin’s high kick to the Broncos try line to take the ball dead. After deciding that it was Miloudi’s touch which knocked the ball dead, the Broncos took the goal line drop out which the Dragons made the most of as Jarrod Wallace received the offload from McMeeken on the try line to go over and score. The try scored by Wallace appeared to have given Catalans some attacking life and the Broncos nearly conceded another just four minutes later as Kershaw panicked under the high ball and miscued, gifting Romano a golden opportunity at scoring but his final pass was forward and intercepted by Natoli anyways, giving London the ball back. Catalans’ second try of the half came in the sixtieth minute as Romano took control & grounded the chip through on the fifth & with Morgue’s second conversion, Catalans placed themselves in a winning position for the first time in the fixture. An interesting statistic to note from these two try’s is that both came within a minute of London giving away a repeat set of six- it just goes to show the ruthless nature of the highest division and that there isn’t a team in Super League who can afford to give anything away without it being punished. Between this try and the 67 th minute, there was a lot of mistakes from both sides which gifted their opponents scrums & penalties. In the 64 th minute, Jacob Jones lost control of the ball in the tackle which was almost immediately followed by Catalans spilling the ball forward and giving London back their field position. The moment which really determined the rest of the second half came in the 67 th minute where Satae put in a late shot on Leyland and was put in the bin, effectively meaning that Catalans would have to close out the game with only 12 men. This is where you could see that London had been given a spring in their step and it would be fair to claim that Catalans were slightly hanging on defensively. However, as has been the story for much of the season, our mistakes cost us. On the fifth, Campagnolo put a chip through which Kennedy knocked on and then moments later, Kennedy gave away a penalty for a high shot which the Dragons made the most of as they used up several minutes getting themselves in order and playing their set. This didn’t stop London’s winning desire however as the team continued progressing with intent. Unfortunately, though, in the 78 th minute, Stock dropped the pass on the 20m line which gave Catalans the opportunity to close the game out with their set which they did, and the hooter went for full time. FULL TIME: CATALANS DRAGONS 12-8 LONDON BRONCOS Penalties conceded: 5-4 Half-time: 0-6 Full-time: 12-8 Referee: Marcus Griffiths Catalans Dragons Squad: 1) Arthur Morgue, 2) Tom Davies, 3) Arthur Romano, 34) Reimis Smith, 5) Fouad Yaha, 27) Jordan Abdull, 29) Sam Tompkins, 16) Romain Navarrete, 13) Benjamin Garcia, 20) Chris Satae, 11) Tariq Sims, 15) Bailey Sironen, 8) Mike McMeeken Interchanges: 10) Julian Bousquet, 17) Cesar Rogue, 23) Jordan Dezaria, 33) Jarrod Wallace Try: Wallace (50), Romano (60) Conversion: Morgue 2/2 Sin-Bin: Satae (67) London Broncos Squad: 23) Josh Rourke, 2) Lee Kershaw, 12) Ethan Natoli, 3) Jarred Bassett, 4) Hakim Miloudi, 20) Oli Leyland, 6) Jack Campagnolo, 8) Rob Butler, 9) Sam Davis, 19) Rhys Kennedy, 11) Will Lovell, 29) Jacob Jones, 15) Marcus Stock Interchanges: 34) Ugo Tison, 10) Lewis Bienek, 17) Sadiq Adebiyi, 18) Emmanuel Waine Try: Kershaw (31) Conversion: Leyland 1/1 Sin-Bin: Penalty kick: Leyland 1/1

TEAM NEWS: Catalans Dragons vs London Broncos Here is your starting line-up for this evening’s Round 26 Super League fixture against the Catalans Dragons at Stade Gilbert Brutus. Mike Eccles has made just the one change from the team that started against Huddersfield as Jacob Jones comes into the second row for Sadiq Adebiyi who is named as an interchange. Will Lovell starts this evening and makes his 171st London Broncos appearance moving up to 4th all-time, now just behind Steele Retchless, Rob Purdham and Chad Randall.

The Broncos have their penultimate game of the 2024 Super League season tomorrow as we face off against Catalans Dragons for the third time this season. When we faced Catalans earlier in the season at the Cherry Red Records Stadium, the Dragons took the win in Round 2 and we picked up our second win of the season in Round 20. See below for the highlights of this fixture: London Broncos vs Catalans Dragons highlights (Super League Round 2):