MATCH REPORT: London Broncos 10-17 Goole Vikings
LONDON BRONCOS V GOOLE VIKINGS (by David Ballheimer)
London Broncos (10) 10, Goole Vikings (6) 17
London Broncos slumped out of the BetFred Challenge Cup at the second round stage, losing 17–10 at home to newcomers Goole Vikings, playing their first ever competitive match in professional rugby league.
This was a hugely disappointing result, one entirely merited as Goole dominated most of the last 55 minutes, and whilst there are a large number of mitigating factors, the rugby league world won’t know or care about them.
Only five of the Broncos appeared for the team last season, Alex Walker, Lewis Bienek, Will Lovell, Sadiq Adebiyi and Jensen Monk, the latter a solitary Challenge Cup appearance at Warrington, though he was in numerous Super League 21-man squads, and a large number of 17 were making their first appearances at this level.
It also didn’t help that London had not enjoyed the benefit of a friendly fixture, the one at North Wales being cancelled because of problems with the opponents’ home stadium, so this was a group of players who had not played together.
For the opening quarter, none of that seemed to matter as the Broncos started brightly and they tested the resolve of the Goole defensive line. A couple of penalties helped to set up a good position and, in the 12th minute, scrum-half Connor O’Beirne made a diagonal run through a couple of tacklers before touching down. His conversion went narrowly wide.
When, in the 18th minute, Goole coughed up the ball inside their own 10-metre line, the Broncos took full toll. After a couple of tackles, Adebiyi charged through two defenders and was able to get the ball down and O’Beirne stretched the London lead to 10 points.
Goole were given a boost after 22 minutes. A poor London last-tackle kick was caught by Jamie Shaull – a player with more Super League matches than the combined total of the entire Broncos 17 – in the in-goal area but his attempt to make a quick restart was stopped by Lovell’s tackle, earning the skipper a 10-minute sit-down in the sin-bin.
The Vikings could not take advantage, once more failing to ground the ball over the try-line, and a pass out to unmarked winger Thomas Halliday going just in front of the winger before bouncing into touch. Instead of the boost of holding out with a man short, the Broncos started making mistakes in their handling. Defensively, they remained sound and it looked like they might make it to half-time with their 10-point lead.
Instead, Leighton Ball stepped into touch after gathering a Reece Dean kick just inside the field of play giving Goole six more tackles inside the Broncos 10. This time the Viking made no mistake, Dean’s long pass finding Halliday who was able to ground the ball before being bundled over the sideline. A magnificent kick from Dean left London with an advantage of just four points.
The second half showed how important a try on the stroke of the hooter can be. Every Goole attack went deep into London territory and when the Broncos tried to make yards, they made handling errors and it was not until the 52nd minute, on the back of a penalty, that they had a single play in Vikings territory.
It seemed a matter of when, not if, that Goole would level the scores and that moment arrived in 57th minute when Thomas Minns, a Harlequins player on loan from Leeds in 2014, took a pass from Josh Guzdek and made a break from inside his own 40. He spotted a gap, burst through an uneven defensive line and outsprinted the cover all the way to the try-line. Dean may have missed the kick, but the scores were level.
The Goole defence did something that Super League teams struggled to do last season, stop a charging Lewis Bienik close to the line and they rolled him over onto his back. Adebiyi, likewise, joined the players held up – the referee made the ruling half a dozen times in all.
As the game entered its final stages, Goole got the break they deserved. The Broncos were attacking down the right side, just inside the Vikings’ half, when Luke Polselli attempted a pass out towards the wing. The pass was intercepted by Mackenzie Harman, who ran all the way under the posts to make Dean’s conversion automatic.
There was more than enough time for London to fight back and at least level the scores, but it wasn’t to be. Instead. A powerful run gave Goole the position to set up a drop goal and Dean sent the ball between the uprights to give the Vikings a two-score lead with less than five minutes remaining. They were never going to surrender that position.
London Broncos: 1 Alex Walker, 2 Jerome Yates, 3 Chris Ball, 4 Aaron Small, 5, Leighton Ball, 14 Jack Ryan, 7 Connor O’Beirne, 8 Huw Worthington, 9 Connor Davies, 10 Lewis Bienik, 11 Will Lovell, 12 Sadiq Adebiyi, 12 Jenson Monk. Replacements: 6 Luke Polselli, 15 Ben Hursey-Hord, 16 Matt Ross, 17 Kian McDermott. 18th man: 18 Tyler Kearney.
Tries: O’Beirme (12), Adebiyi (19).
Goals: O’Beirme 1/2
Field goal: None
Sin-bin: Lovell (22, delaying restart)
Goole Vikings: 29 Jamie Shaul, 2 Thomas Halliday, 3 Josh Guzdek, 4 Thomas Minns, 14 Misi Taulapapa, 6 Mackenzie Harman, 7 Reece Dean, 10 Jack Aldous, 9 Jeylan Hodgson, 17 Jack Coventry, 11 Brett Ferres, 12 Bailey Dawson, 18 Tyler Craig. Replacements: 15 Alex Holdstock, 19 Callum Shaw, 20 Andrew Ellis, 22 Michael Ogunwole. 18th man: 23 Benjamin Hodder.
Tries: Halliday (40), Minns (57), Harman (69)
Goals: Dean 2/3
Field goal: Croft (75)
Sin-bin: None
Referee: Ryan Cox
HT: 10–6
Penalty awarded count: 8–6
Attendance: TBA
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