Match Report – London Broncos 38-24 Swinton Lions

29 June 2021

The Lions played some of their best Rugby of the season in this game and were unlucky not to come away with something for their performance.

Rhodri Lloyd put the Lions ahead after five minutes when Tom Spencer was grounded just short of the line by Chris Hankinson and from the play the ball Cobi Green sent a nice short pass for the Lions captain to go over on the right and Martyn Ridyard converted from near the touchline.

Broncos hit back on thirteen minutes when Gideon Boafo evaded tackles to score on the left and Hankinson converted, the same player was over for his second four minutes later when he scored in the left corner and Hankinson again added the goal points.

A Broncos player was placed on report for an illegal tackle on Mike Butt when he seemed to get knees in the back after collecting a high ball near his line and struggled with the injury until half time when he was substituted.

Broncos went further ahead on the half hour when Abbas Miski went over and Hankinson again converted but the Lions were not taking a back seat. Four minutes later Broncos were on the attack down their left just inside their own half and the ball went to ground and Green was following play, he scooped up the ball to race away and score his first Lions try with Ridyard again converting.

The Lions attack was frustrating the Broncos defence and just before the break Ridyard sent a kick towards the line and the Broncos winger Josh Hodson committed the sin of letting the ball bounce and it bounced away from him straight into the hands of the chasing Mitch Cox, who fed the supporting Mike Butt who scored in the left corner and Ridyard converted to level the scores at the break.

The injured Mike Butt did not return at half time and they had to reshuffle with Deane Meadows moving to the wing. Deane was the spark for the next try when he was grounded just short of the line and from the play the ball play moved swiftly right and Luis Roberts managed to squeeze over in the corner and Ridyard again converted from the touchline to put the Lions in a strong position. Broncos came back strongly with two tries in three minutes midway through the half with Boafo and Miski going over and Hankinson converted one of them to give them a four-point advantage.

Another incident was placed on report by referee Mike Smaill which saw Rhodri Lloyd victim of what looked like a crusher tackle. Luis Roberts left the field with a foot injury just after that incident and the Lions had to reshuffle the team again but it was Broncos who took the advantage in the final ten minutes with Will Lovell and Jarrod Sammut both going over for late tries and Hankinson added one further conversion. The Lions never stopped battling and Nick Gregson made a very dangerous break in the last minutes but he was grounded just short.

Ian Rigg at Ealing Trailfinders

Lions

Hansen, Roberts, Lloyd, Cox, Butt, Ridyard, Green, Brooks, Waterworth, Spencer, Hope, Gregson, Brickhill. Subs: T.Brown, Jones, Meadows, Nash.