
London Broncos
22 - 29
Bradford Bulls
6th May 2012
14:00
Brisbane Road
Stobart Super League



After surviving an early promising break by Bradford, the Broncos took the lead with less than two minutes on the clock. A fine drive down the middle by Mark Bryant put them on the front foot and when Matt Cook broke clear he put Michael Robertson in under the posts.
Witt added the conversion to make it 6-0 and five minutes later he made the break for the second try. The ball was moved smartly from right to left, enabling Bryant to put Cook over with Witt adding the extras.
The Bulls were caught offside from the kick off, which gave the home side another great attacking position, and they took full advantage. Chad Randall fed Witt and the stand off's well judged pass allowed youngster Michael Channing to cross for his first try for the club.
The Broncos withstood the first real threat to their line by the Bulls with some solid defence and were soon up the other end thanks to a fine 40-20 kick from Craig Gower. But another try from this good attacking platform was disallowed by the referee when he ruled that the scoring pass to Robertson was forward.
Bradford finally got points on the board when marched up field on the back of a penalty. On the sixth tackle, Luke Gale's towering bomb to the corner was plucked out of the air by Karl Pryce and touched down. A 40-20 soon after from Gale put more pressure on the home defence but this time the defence held firm.
However after 25 minutes the Bulls came right back into the game when the Broncos surrendered possession in their own half. Gale decided to run on the sixth tackle which resulted in Michael Platt forcing his way over the line to make it 16-10.
The visitors were coming into the game more and more but late in the half the Broncos stretched their lead. A penalty took them into their opponents half and a fine break by Chris Bailey saw him put Witt over for a try which the stand off converted.
But just before half time the visitors hit back again when the Broncos coughed up possession in their own half. Platt forced his way over for his second try and Gale converted from the touchline to make it 22-16 at the interval.
Within a minute of the second half the Bulls were on level terms, keeping the ball alive to enable Platt to crash over for his hat trick followed by Gale's conversion. The Bulls were increasingly put the Broncos defence under pressure, due largely to the home side's inability to complete their sets.
Midway through the half it took a terrific tackle by Robertson on his own try line to deny Gale a touchdown. Going into the final quarter, the Broncos were under constant pressure and were being hammered in the penalty count. Following yet another set of six following a goal line drop out they finally cracked with Platt going in for his fourth try to give the visitors the lead for the first time.
The Bulls kept up the pressure and with 10 minutes remaining Gale made it 28-22 with a penalty. Minutes later he landed a drop goal which sealed victory.
| No. | Name | T | G | F | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Robertson |
1T |
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| 2 | Kieran Dixon |
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| 3 | Michael Channing |
1T |
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| 4 | Dan Sarginson |
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| 5 | Jamie O'Callaghan |
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| 6 | Michael Witt |
1T |
3G |
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| 7 | Craig Gower |
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| 8 | Antonio Kaufusi |
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| 9 | Chad Randall |
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| 10 | Mark Bryant |
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| 11 | Shane Rodney |
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| 12 | Matt Cook |
1T |
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| 13 | Chris Bailey |
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| 14 | Ben Bolger |
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| 15 | Chris Melling |
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| 16 | Scott Wheeldon |
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| 17 | Luke Dorn |
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| No. | Name | T | G | F | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elliott Kear |
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| 2 | Shaun Ainscough |
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| 3 | Michael Platt |
4T |
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| 4 | Keith Lulia |
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| 5 | Karl Pryce |
1T |
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| 6 | Ben Jeffries |
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| 7 | Luke Gale |
4G |
1F |
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| 8 | Bryn Hargreaves |
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| 9 | Matt Diskin |
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| 10 | Craig Kopczak |
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| 11 | Jamie Langley |
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| 12 | Elliott Whitehead |
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| 13 | Olivier Elima |
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| 14 | Heath l'Estrange |
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| 15 | Danny Addy |
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| 16 | Manase Manuokafoa |
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| 17 | Tom Burgess |
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