Betfred Championship Round Thirteen
London Broncos 64-0 Midlands Hurricanes
by Tom Kiernan-Wilson
After a difficult afternoon in Sale last week, the Canes faced the daunting challenge of facing the league leaders London Broncos – one of only two full-time sides in the Championship and the club widely expected to win the competition – who were seeking a club record 11th win in front of their own fans.
The Broncos started strongly by scoring in just the second minute after a six-again call on the last gave the home side another set to make ground, and PNG international Gairo Voro cut through a gap to round the defence and score under the sticks (4-0). Former South Sydney and Parramatta Eels scrum-half Dean Hawkins would add the extras (6-0). Voro would almost score a second on the return set, but the Canes defence would hold him out.
The first sign of a Canes offensive came on the eight-minute mark when Captain Jon-Luke Kirby made a break down the middle, but his effort would end in the Broncos stealing the ball one-on-one. Lewis Else would also test the Broncos line with a grubber a few minutes later, but would ultimately concede a 7-tackle restart.
The Broncos would make the Canes pay for that outcome, as the additional tackle put them in an opportunity to pass from right to left before Liam Tindall slid over to score (10-0). Hawkins would miss the conversion. The hosts would go back to back two minutes later as Voro cut through a gap and reached out to score despite the efforts of Lewis Else (14-0), with Hawkins converting (16-0).
A couple of minutes later Morea Morea would score their fourth as he cut through space and down the right edge (20-0), with Hawkins missing the conversion. Six minutes later Liam Tindall would slide over in the left corner for London’s fifth (24-0), with Hawkins nailing an impressive conversion from out wide (26-0).
In the final 15 minutes of the first half the Canes showed some real promise, with Aidan McGowan coming within inches of the Broncos line before being tackled. Lewis Else would also force the Broncos to concede a goal-line drop out, but the resulting set would see McGowan overcook a pass to Todd Horner that would sail into touch.
The Canes would continue that momentum with the first set of the second half, and would immediately threaten the Broncos line on the first set before coughing up possession. However, the Broncos would quickly make Midlands pay as James Meadows broke through the middle and passed to Morea Morea for his second (30-0). Hawkins would once again convert (32-0).
Six minutes later, Morea Morea would weave his way over the line for his hat-trick. The Broncos live feed would indicate he never grounded the ball and was held up, but the referee gave him the benefit of the doubt and awarded the try (36-0). Hawkins would again convert (38-0). The Canes would then get back into the swing of things, but an offload from Ryan Johnson to winger Matty Chrimes would not result in points.
Morea Morea would get his fourth just before the 60-minute in the same manner as his first, finding a gap to dart through into the right corner (42-0). Hawkins would nail another impressive conversion from out wide (44-0). Voro would then nail a hat-trick as London went back-to-back with a nice break down the left edge and an off-load before being dragged into touch (48-0). Hawkins could not convert this time.
The Canes would have another opportunity to get on the scoreboard after this, with a McGowan bullet pass to Chrimes leading to the wily winger being bundled into touch 5 metres out.
The Broncos would then hit a half-century with just over 10 minutes to go, as Sadiq Adebiyi would celebrate his 100th Broncos appearance with a try right of the posts (52-0) that Hawkins would convert (54-0). Going back-to-back once again, Hawkins would add his name to the try-scoring list (58-0) before converting his own effort (60-0).
The Canes would then have a couple of final opportunities to score, as a nice chip by Sully Medforth would be regathered and fed out wide to Matty Chrimes, who in turn would offload to Aidan McGowan who would crash over but his efforts would be pulled back for a forward pass. Lewis Else would also kick another tough grubber and force a goal-line drop out.
The final sixty seconds would see the hosts have the last word, as Voro would continue to display his impressive agility to cut through and score down the left edge just before the hooter (64-0). Adebiyi would be given the opportunity to convert, but the forward’s effort would drift under the sticks.
The Canes now turn their attention to the Quarter Final of the 1895 Cup. After obtaining a 48-0 walkover victory against North Wales due to their well publicised financial issues (that are thankfully behind them), we travel to face Oldham on Friday evening.
Man of the Match:
Sully Medforth (Sponsored by Ideal Building Systems)
Tries:
None
Conversions:
None
