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Preview: 2024 Super League Round 1: St Helens Saints vs London Broncos

James Booth • 15 February 2024

The London Broncos begin their highly anticipated return to the Super League with a trip up to the Totally Wicked Stadium to face off against one of Super League’s most successful teams, St Helens Saints.


This is the first fixture since 2019 that the London Broncos have had in the Super League and after many months of patience and excitement, the Broncos’ Super League story is about to get underway!

 

To prepare themselves for the big season ahead, the Broncos have played in 3 pre-season matches against League one side Oldham (18-18 draw) and Super League sides Castleford Tigers (14-14 draw) & Huddersfield Giants (lost 50-16). Despite not claiming a victory ahead of the new season, Director of Rugby & Performance Mike Eccles does not seem concerned, stating that “We have learnt a lot of lessons in all three games. It was always going to be three tough away games and that has been what’s needed to ready us”.

 

St Helen’s have played two pre-season games in the build up to their 2024 Super League campaign, losing one to Swinton (18-28) and winning the other vs Salford Red Devils (52-10).

 

Speaking on our Round 1 matchup, Director of Rugby & Performance Mike Eccles had this to say:

 

“There has been a massive buzz around the place this week.

 

“I don’t think there is any pressure on us, no one is expecting anything from us, but we have higher expectations than that inside the camp.

 

“We are going to compete really hard every play of the game, every week.

 

“Internally we have a high purpose, irrelevant of what is said externally so there will be no dangers that we will compete really hard”.

 

As well as being the exciting start of the 2024 Super League campaign for the London Broncos, this fixture has also provided an opportunity for many London players to achieve a great career milestone by making their Super League debuts. Oli Leyland, Iliess Macani, Jack Campagnolo, Robbie Storey, Jordan Williams, Marcus Stock, Jack Hughes, Jensen Monk, Dean Parata, Emmanuel Waine, Jarred Bassett & Dan Hoyes are all players in contention to make their Super League debut tomorrow and etch their name into Super League history. They are all players to keep an eye on tomorrow night as they look to make an impression in one of the biggest games of their careers so far!

 

St Helens had a very successful 2023 Super League season, finishing 3rd in the regular season with a record of 20 wins and 7 losses, losing 12-6 to our Round 2 opponent, Catalan Dragons, in the Super League semi-final. After winning the Super League in 2022, St Helens also won the 2023 World Club Challenge after beating reigning NRL Champions Penrith Panthers 13-12 at the BlueBet Stadium in Sydney.

 

After what feels like an eternity to wait since our historic Grand Final victory last year, the London Broncos are finally ready to make their return to Super League! If you are not with us on the journey up to St Helens tomorrow, you can watch the game on either Sky Sports mix OR on Super League +. You can sign up to Super League+ for the game tomorrow or for the season by clicking here now!

MATCH REPORT: London Broncos 26-6 Hunslet RLFC

by Jake Watson • 30 March 2025
LONDON BRONCOS V HUNSLET (by David Ballheimer) London Broncos (16) 26, Hunslet (0) 6 London Broncos produced one of their most dominant defensive performances in recent memory as they beat Hunslet at the Cherry Red Records Stadium on Saturday night. Such was London’s control of the ruck that the Yorkshiremen had only one attack on the London line, and they turned over the ball-carrier before he could ground the ball. At the other end, Hunslet could not cope with the power and strength of London’s ball-carriers. The Broncos made a great start, scoring on their second possession, courtesy of Marcus Stock, who found a way through three tacklers before stretching over the line and grounding the ball. Most of the credit, however, belonged to Huw Worthington, who charged 35 metres downfield returning a kick. Four minutes later, Stock turned provider, turning in a tackle and sending Luke Polselli over. The half-back was able to run behind the posts to make Chris Hellec’s second conversion even easier than his first.

MATCH GALLERY: London Broncos 26-6 Hunslet RLFC

by Jake Watson • 30 March 2025
MATCH GALLERY: London Broncos 26-6 Hunslet RLFC You can now look at the best images from a winning afternoon for Mike Eccles Broncos who maintained their 100% home record in the league this season. Tries in the first half Marcus Stock, Luke Polselli & Alex Walker gave the Broncos a 16-0 lead at the break before tries from Aaron Small and Liam Tindall secured the points. RFL President Adam Hills MBE attended the game as our special guest. #WeAreLondon

RFL President Adam Hills MBE visits London Broncos

by Jake Watson • 30 March 2025
RFL President Adam Hills MBE visits London Broncos We welcomed Adam Hills to The Cherry Red Records Stadium on Saturday for the visit of Hunslet RLFC as he completes a mini tour of clubs in the Championship and League One. This wasn't Hills first trip to Wimbledon, as a supporter of Warrington Wolves, he attended the Super League game last season and was a big fan of the facilities on offer. You can watch the interview with Adam on the link below as we discuss a wide range of topics! #WeAreLondon

HIGHLIGHTS: London Broncos 26-6 Hunslet RLFC

by Jake Watson • 29 March 2025
MATCH HIGHLIGHTS: London Broncos 26-6 Hunslet RLFC London Broncos returned to winning ways on Saturday as Mike Eccles side picked up a valuable win over Hunslet at The Cherry Red Records Stadium. The Broncos were forced into making 8 changes from the 18-man squad that lost to Oldham the week before so despite Hunslet's league position, a win was far from a foregone conclusion. You can watch the full match highlights below #WeAreLondon

POST MATCH INTERVIEW: London Broncos 26-6 Hunslet RLFC

by Jake Watson • 29 March 2025
POST-MATCH INTERVIEW: London Broncos 26-6 Hunslet RLFC Mike Eccles spoke of his delight after his London Broncos side picked up a valuable win over Hunslet at The Cherry Red Records Stadium. The Broncos were forced into making 8 changes from the 18-man squad that lost to Oldham the week before so despite Hunslet's league position, a win was far from a foregone conclusion. You can watch the full interview with Mike Eccles below. TRIES: Stock, Polselli, Walker, Small & Tindall CONVERSIONS: Hellec 3/3 #WeAreLondon

TEAM NEWS: London Broncos vs Hunslet RLFC

by Jake Watson • 29 March 2025
TEAM NEWS: London Broncos vs Hunslet RLFC Mike Eccles has named his starting line-up for this afternoon’s Round 5 clash with Hunslet at The Cherry Red Records. There are 7 changes to the 17 with Alfie Johnson and Tom Whitehead coming straight in to start after joining on dual registration from Warrington Wolves. Huw Worthington comes in for Lewis Bienek, Ben Hursey-Hord comes in for Sadiq Adebiyi and then Matt Ross, Sam Winney and Chris Ball are named as interchanges. Ted Davidson, a former academy player, who rejoined the club during the week is named as 18th man. #WeAreLondon

MATCHDAY GUIDE: London Broncos vs Hunslet RLFC

by Jake Watson • 28 March 2025
MATCHDAY GUIDE: London Broncos vs Hunslet RLFC London Broncos take on Hunslet RLFC on Saturday at the later time of 5pm with gates opening at 3pm with supporters encouraged to come along early and head to the pub and enjoy the street food vans inside the stadium.

London Broncos announce dual-registration with Warrington Wolves

by Jake Watson • 28 March 2025
London Broncos announce dual-registration with Warrington Wolves London Broncos are pleased to announce the club has agreed a dual-registration partnership with Super League club Warrington Wolves for the 2025 season. The announcement further strengthens the links between the two clubs with Wolves youngsters Zac Bardsley-Rowe and Jake Thewlis joining on loan deals at the start of the season. We have now moved to make the relationship stronger by moving to a dual-registration agreement. This will allow the opportunity for players at Warrington to gain some valuable game time in the Championship with Mike Eccles side. With Mike as a highly respected coach we thank Warrington for entrusting us with some of their brightest talents. As part of the announcement both Tom Whitehead and Alfie Johnson will join up with the Broncos and both are available for selection for the next game against Hunslet. This week Jake Thewlis is named in Sam Burgess’ 21-man squad so returns to Warrington. #WeAreLondon

MATCH PREVIEW: London Broncos vs Hunslet RLFC

by Jake Watson • 27 March 2025
MATCH PREVIEW: London Broncos vs Hunslet RLFC London Broncos return to The Cherry Red Records for the first time in over a month when they welcome Hunslet RLFC to Wimbledon on Saturday. The Broncos will be looking to right the wrongs of last weekend when they lost heavily to Oldham in what was a performance described by Mike Eccles as a “bad day at the office”.

SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT: London Broncos vs Hunslet RLFC

by Jake Watson • 27 March 2025
SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT: London Broncos vs Hunslet RLFC Mike Eccles has named his squad for this weekend’s Championship action when London Broncos welcome Hunslet to The Cherry Red Records. This week we give a warm welcome to Tom Whitehead and Alfie Johnson who join the squad from Warrington Wolves. Also joining the squad is former Broncos academy centre Ted Davidson. The 22-year-old centre played in the recent Capital Challenge game at the HAC and scored two tries for the London Development team. Ted came through the same system as former team mates Jamie Humphrey’s, Oli Leyland, Ramon Silva and Kai Pearce-Paul. (I can fill in more detail in an interview about him going away etc). Jake Thewlis, Lukas Mason, Kian McDermott and Taylor Kerr return this week to their respective parent clubs. We can also update fans on the fitness of Connor O’Beirne who missed the game with Oldham due to injury. We can confirm that he has sustained a knee injury so is set to be unavailable for selection for the next two months. Finally, Lewis Bienek suffered a head knock in the game at Oldham and failed his HIA so is unavailable for the weekend’s game in line with concussion protocol. #WeAreLondon
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