MATCH REPORT: London Broncos 22-36 Warrington Wolves
LONDON BRONCOS V WARRINGTON WOLVES (by David Ballheimer)
London Broncos (10) 22, Warrington Wolves (16) 36
London Broncos were far better and far closer to a real shock against Warrington Wolves than the final score suggests. Half of the Wolves’ six tries came from interceptions and the Broncos failed to take three great scoring chances in the opening 30 minutes. However, to say London deserved to win isn’t correct, either. The margin of victory flattered Warrington, but they were far more clinical when presented with scoring opportunities and their scramble defence was, on the whole, very successful.
The Broncos made an excellent start, including forcing an error from Roderick Tai almost on his line. From, the scrum however, Jack Campagnolo’s found Hakim Miloudi in space, but two Warrington players came across and the winger was unable to ground the ball on or over the try-line.
It proved costly because in the eighth minute, the Wolves scored their first try, Tai taking a pass from John Bateman and crashing over. Josh Drinkwater was wide with his conversion attempt, his only miss of the afternoon. From the restart, late in the tackle count Danny Walker kicked a 40–20 that went out of play on the 10.
The Broncos held on, and launched an excellent attack, aided by a penalty. Unfortunately, a pass from Ethan Natoli to an open Lee Kershaw was intercepted and Matty Ashton took the ball 85 metres the other way. Instead of 4–4 or 6–4 to the Broncos, it was 0–10.
After forcing another handling error, the Broncos made it count this time with Josh Rourke finding a hole in the Wolves defence and scoring near the touchline. Oli Leyland’s kick held its own in the breeze and drifted wide of the near post.
Warrington continued to be ruthless in punishing mistakes and another interception led to a third Wolves try, Paul Vaughan proving unstoppable from three metres out. London had the next opportunity, set up by a 20–40 from Leyland, but Campagnolo’s kick rolled dead in goal. The Broncos continued to knock on the door and, on their next time in possession, they worked a 2-on-1 advantage down the left wing on the final play of the set, but Jarred Bassett mishandled the ball and another great chance disappeared. The frustration felt by all Broncos players, coaching staff and fans was palpable.
The Wolves scored another long-range try in the 33rd minute when a break down the left wing by Ashton left Toby King with an unchallenged run behind the posts to make Drinkwater’s conversion automatic. The last word of the half belonged to the Broncos, who got their second try thanks to a barnstorming charge from Lewis Bienik. Leyland’s conversion made it a two-score game at the hooter.
The first score of the second half was crucial and, three minutes in, after a good Broncos possession, the Wolves moved downfield, and Adam Holroyd somehow forced the ball down. The referee went to the video referee, signalling a try and the man in the booth didn’t overturn it. Drinkwater added the extras. Without hearing the judgement of the video referee, the feeling was that if the referee had ruled “no try”, then the decision of the screen would have backed him up.
If London felt aggrieved at that decision, they didn’t let it show and when a last tackle play went the Broncos way with a repeat set, Sam Davies wasted no time in finding a gap in the thin green line and bursting through, improved by Leyland.
The longest period of the game without a score was stretched to 15 minutes when the Broncos cut the deficit to just six points. In the 63rd minute, Rhys Kennedy’s pass out of a tackle hit the green stuff and before a green shirt could reach it, Ugo Tison had pounced. He scooted past two tacklers before diving over the try line and grounding the ball. Warrington wondered if the ball had been lost forward, but the referee didn’t refer the issue to his video counterpart.
Warrington were sufficiently worried that, with 13 minutes remaining, when they were awarded a penalty 25 metres out, they elected to kick at goal and Drinkwater stretched lead to eight points. With nine minutes remaining, the Broncos’ hopes of a miraculous comeback were dealt a serious blow as Kennedy was sin-binned for a high tackle. Almost immediately, Walker went over the line, but he was held up by a brilliant last-ditch tackle. The video referee was brought into action again but, this time, the referee signalled no try and, with sightlines again completely inconclusive, the screen showed the words “No Try”, so the Broncos were able to breathe a little more easily.
Time was running out, but the Broncos enjoyed a concerted spell of pressure on the Warrington line, of course still trailing by two scores. Unfortunately, one last desperate pass try was picked by a Wolves forward. He passed to Ashton, who ran unchallenged between the uprights. The hooter sounded as Ashton crossed the London 40 and it meant that most of the team had to drag their bodies to the other end of the field for Drinkwater’s coup de grâce.
London Broncos: 23 Josh Rourke, 2 Lee Kershaw, 12 Ethan Natoli, 3 Jarred Bassett, 4 Hakim Miloudi, 20 Oli Leyland, 6 Jack Campagnolo, 19 Rhys Kennedy, 9 Sam Davis, 8 Rob Butler, 11 Will Lovell, 17 Sadiq Adebiyi, 15 Marcus Stock. Replacements: 10 Lewis Bienek, 13 Dean Parata, 29 Jacob Jones, 34 Ugo Tison. 18th man: 24 Matt Davies.
Tries: Rourke (18), Bienik (37), Davies (48), Tison (63)
Goals: Leyland 3/4
Sin-bin: Kennedy (71, high tackle)
Warrington Wolves: 1 Matt Dufty, 33 Aaron Lindop, 3 Toby King, 14 Roderick Tai, 5 Matty Ashton, 32 Sam Powell, 7 Josh Drinkwater, 8 James Harrison, 9 Danny Walker, 10 Paul Vaughan, 42, John Bateman, 28 Adam Holroyd, 17 Jordy Crowther. Replacements: 15 Joe Philbin, 16 Zane Musgrove, 34 Max Wood, 38 Cai Taylor-Wray. 18th man: 29 Thomas Whitehead.
Tries: Tai (8), Ashton (15, 80), Vaughan (23), King (33), Holroyd (43)
Goals: Drinkwater 6/7
Sin-bin: None
Referee: Marcus Griffiths
HT: 10–22
Penalty awarded count: 5–5
Attendance: 2,150
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