Betfred Super League Round 7: Hull KR vs London Broncos Match Summary
Very much a game of two halves, London certainly felt the full force and cutthroat nature of a very in-form and talented Hull KR squad. Despite the final score line and the demolition job which KR performed on the Broncos in the first half, the second half showed London’s character as they managed to contain the score to 10-6 to the Robins, certainly one of the few positives which can be taken out of this game. A second positive which can be taken from this game is personal milestones for certain players within the team. Gideon Boafo, Jack Hughes & Dan Hoyes made their Super League debuts tonight & Iliess Macani touched down in the second half to get his 100th career try- congratulations to all for your fantastic achievements.
For the first 4 minutes of the first half, one wouldn’t be considered out of their mind for thinking that we may be witness to a closer game than originally predicted at Craven Park. London began, kicking left to right, and forced KR to kick back to the Broncos on their 5th attempt as the Broncos successfully defended the first Hull attack. Things then got even better for the Broncos in the second minute as Sam Luckley got yellow carded for a dangerous tackle on Marcus Stock and to then put the icing on the cake, Sam Davis touched the ball over the Hull try line for his first try of the 2024 Super League season and stunned the sold-out home crowd into near silence.
However, it can be argued that the moment which the try was scored, the fun stopped for London. Leyland begins by missing the conversion from the try and then making a huge mistake off kick off, gifting the home side a goal line dropout. Leyland then kicks short from the dropout and, despite Macani’s best attempts to try and salvage the ball for London, he comes up short and Matt Parcell runs the ball over the London try line uncontested for KR’s first try of the night, which was converted by Mikey Lewis in the sixth minute of the game.
From this point, aside from an excellent Jimmy Meadows break and ball recovery in the 10th minute for the Broncos, it all went sharply downhill for the away side.
From the impressive break and ball recovery, Meadows attempts to put a chip kick through for Storey & Boafo to chase on London’s 4th attempt about 15m outside of KR’s try-line which, unfortunately for him, goes straight into the hands of Mikey Lewis who runs the ball about 50m and perhaps out of fatigue and/or ill-discipline, London gifts KR two repeat sets of six. However, on this occasion London got lucky, as Minchella knocks the ball on about 5m outside of London’s tryline but this whole pattern of play can be considered foreshadowing for what was to come before the half time whistle blew.
The try’s began raining in for KR in the 18th minute of the first half as James Batchelor scored his first try of the evening, followed by another try scored by Kelepi Tanginoa in the 23rd minute, both converted by Mikey Lewis.
Despite the Broncos’ attempts to change things up with a double interchange in the 25th minute (Parata & Kennedy off, Makin & Butler on) it didn’t appear to make any kind of real difference for the travelling side as Ryan Hall scored his try in the 28th minute followed by a try by Mikey Lewis in the 31st minute, Matt Parecel’s second try in the 33rd minute & Peter Hiku touching down in the 36th minute.
Much to the relief of the Broncos, the referee shortly blew the half time whistle after Hiku’s try, giving them the opportunity to get themselves together ahead of the second 40. The halftime score was Hull KR 40-London Broncos 4 due to the seven try’s scored by the Robin’s and six conversions slotted by Mikey Lewis who, all credit to him, had a seriously impressive first half.
As the player’s came out to begin the second half, there was certainly the nervous feeling in the back of the mind as a London supporter, anxiously hoping that they would be able to leave Craven Park was something to positively reflect upon, and there is definitely a case to be made that London can leave Hull with their heads held (half) high after their second half performance.
For the first ten minutes of the second half, two separate incorrect plays of the ball led to two Broncos scrums in good field position but, unfortunately, they could not convert their opportunities into points and they paid the price as in the 50th minute, Hiku made an excellent break through the middle and offloaded to Batchelor to run the ball in for his second try of the evening.
From this point, it appeared as though London’s worst fears of a second half blowout were going to come true as an incorrect play of the ball by Macani led to a dangerous KR attack which was held up over the line by the Broncos. However, in the 58th minute, London managed to turn things around as a loose ball was picked up by Leyland and gifted on a plate to Macani who used his lighting quick pace to get over the line and score his 100th career try and with the conversion by Leyland, the score was 44-10 with 20 minutes to play.
Between the 60th and 70th minute, the game was far more even. An incorrect play of the ball by Boafo in the 61st minute was cancelled out by an incorrect play of the ball by Sue in 67th, and London really were going toe to toe with the Robins. Unfortunately, however, despite London getting a penalty in the 67th minute for a KR offside, the home side managed to get their hands on the ball, leading to Matt Parcel getting his hattrick for the game and put the finishing touches on what was a very entertaining performance by the Hooker.
Despite London’s best efforts in the final 10 minutes, including a nice Alex Walker dink through KR’s defence which unfortunately went dead, they did not have enough time on their hands to find any points and Liam Rush blew the whistle for full time- Hull KR 50- London Broncos 10.
Referee: Liam Rush
Half time- Hull KR 40- London Broncos 4
Full time- Hull KR 50- London Broncos 10
Penalty count: 3-0
Hull KR:
2) Niall Evalds, 23) Louis Senior, 1) Peter Hiku, 3) Tom Opacic, 5) Ryan Hall, 27) Tyrone May, 7) Mikey Lewis, 8) Sauaso Sue, 14) Matt Parcell, 15) Sam Luckley, 20) Kelepi Tanginoa, 12) James Batchelor, 13) Elliot Minchella.
Interchanges: 16) Jai Whitbread, 17) Matty Storton, 18) Ben Reynolds, 21) Corey Hall
Try’s: Matt Parcell (6) (33) (71), James Batchelor (18) (50), Kelepi Tanginoa (23), Ryan Hall (28), Mikey Lewis (31).
Conversions: Lewis 7/9
London Broncos:
1) Alex Walker, 22) Gideon Boafo, 21) Robbie Storey, 4) Hakim Miloudi, 5) Iliess Macani, 20) Oli Leyland, 7) James Meadows, 19) Rhys Kennedy, 9) Sam Davis, 15) Marcus Stock, 11) Will Lovell, 29) Jacob Jones, 13) Dean Parata
Interchanges: 8) Rob Butler, 33) Harvey Makin, 28) Jack Hughes, 27) Dan Hoyes
Try’s: Sam Davis (3), Iliess Macani (58).
Conversions: Leyland 1/2
