London Broncos & Leeds Rhinos - who has played for both?

Jake Watson • 4 July 2024

London Broncos & Leeds Rhinos - who has played for both?


Andy Ackers


A Manchester born hooker who started his career at Swinton Lions, Ackers joined London Broncos in 2016 and became a full-time professional. In his two years at the club Ackers impressed as Broncos finished 2nd in both seasons and he notched 20 tries in 48 games.


After two years in London, Ackers reportedly became homesick and requested his contract be terminated so he could move closer to family. A short time later Ackers joined the Toronto Wolfpack. Broncos would then play Toronto in the Million Pound Game in 2019 where it was Danny Ward’s side that would win the game and book a place in Super League.


After two years at Toronto, then came a three year spell at Salford Red Devils before a move to Headingley and Leeds Rhinos at the start of the 2024 season.


Luke Gale


Born in Leeds and a graduate of the Rhinos academy, Gale’s first introduction to first team action was on loan with Doncaster. In 2008, in his second year at Doncaster, Gale scored 229 points and attracted interest from a host of Super League clubs. Gale moved to what was then Harlequins Rugby League and spent two years in London where he began to establish himself as one of the best creative players in the league. 


After two years in London Gale moved on to Bradford before 4 years at Castleford saw his most memorable spell, where Castleford won the League Leaders Shield and a number of individual awards including Man of Steel. In 2019 he returned to his boyhood club Leeds Rhinos spending just a solitary season there before spells at Hull FC & Keighley Cougars and he now turns out for Wakefield Trinity.


Rohan Smith


Maybe a leftfield choice to include the now former Leeds Rhinos head coach but Rohan Smith’s first job in England was in fact with London Broncos. Smith was born in Australia and is the son of former Australian player and coach Brian Smith and nephew of Tony Smith. Despite never playing the game professionally, Smith’s first coaching role was with New Zealand Warriors aged just 21. 


In 2006 Smith moved to England as Tony Rea’s assistant coach where he would stay for two seasons before returning to Australia to assist his father at the Sydney Roosters and the Newcastle Knights in the NRL. Before coaching Leeds Rhinos, Smith has been head coach at Tonga, North Devils and Bradford Bulls.


Ben Jones Bishop


Another player born in Leeds who went on to represent the club and also Harlequins Rugby League. As a youngster Jones-Bishop broke through into the Leeds first team in 2008 and enjoyed a prolific spell scoring 56 tries in 82 games. Despite staying at Leeds until 2014, Jones-Bishop would join Harlequins Rugby League in 2010 on loan, playing 18 times and scoring 11 tries. After leaving Leeds in 2014 Jones-Bishop moved to Salford Red Devils and then onto Wakefield, whilst he is still playing and a regular scorer now with Sheffield Eagles in the Championship.

Danny Ward


A man who has not only played for both Leeds Rhinos and London Broncos but of course Danny Ward has also coached London Broncos. Born in Dewsbury, Ward went on to have a trophy laden time at Headingley winning Super League, Challenge Cup and the World Club Challenge. After leaving Leeds in 2006, Ward joined Castleford Tigers although he would spend just one season there before joining Hull KR. It was just one year in Hull before making the move down to London where he would enjoy three years before retiring in 2011. In 2018 Ward would return to London as head coach where he would spend another three years which included promotion to Super League in 2019.


Mark Calderwood


A Leeds Rhinos legend and England international but Mark Calderword was born in Greenwich in London but it wasn’t to be until the later stages of his career until he would play in the city of his birth. Coming through at Yorkshire amateur side Stanningley before signing for Leeds, Calderwood went on to score 106 tries in 142 appearances before making a move to Wigan Warriors. Equally prolific at international level he would score 11 tries in 11 games. It was in 2011 that Calderwood would play for then Harlequins Rugby League playing for just the solitary season before moving to Workington Town for a season before retiring.


Other players to have played for both Leeds Rhinos and London Broncos


Wellington Albert, Karl Ablett, Liam Botham, Ben Walker, John Gallagher, Chris McKenna & Roger Draper


by Jake Watson 15 June 2025
TEAM NEWS: Toulouse Olympique vs London Broncos Here is your starting line-up for this afternoon’s Championship with Toulouse at the Stade Ernest-Wallon. Brandon Webster-Mansfield comes in at centre to make his full debut and Connor O’Beirne returns to the starting line-up following injury. #WeAreLondon
by Jake Watson 14 June 2025
MATCH PREVIEW: Toulouse Olympique vs London Broncos London Broncos head into one of the stand out fixtures of the season on Sunday when they make the trip to the south of France to take on Toulouse Olympique. Not only is it a visit to the side topping the Championship table but it is also the destination of one of the best days in the club's recent history. Securing promotion against Toulouse in 2023 was the last meeting between the two sides but despite the Broncos coming out on top that day it is the French who will be favourites on Sunday. Broncos come into this game on the back of a losing run but shoots of improvements were clear to see in the narrow defeat to Widnes last time out and will be boosted by the squad named. Squad Information Mike Eccles has named the 21-man travelling party for this weekend’s trip to Toulouse as Brandon Webster-Mansfield is named for the first time since arriving. Alongside Webster-Mansfield we also Liam Tindall and Connor O’Beirne return, coming as a huge boost for the squad. Sam Winney also returns to the 21 for the first time since breaking his jaw in the away game at Barrow. Jack Smith who is on dual registration from Leeds Rhinos also joins the group after scoring two tries on his debut for the club against Widnes Vikings. Lewis Bienek remains the only major absentee however it is hoped he will be fit for the next game at Hunslet.
by Jake Watson 13 June 2025
MATCH PREVIEW: Mike Eccles looks ahead to Toulouse trip London Broncos Director of Rugby & Performance Mike Eccles has done his pre-match interview ahead of the trip to Toulouse and has offered a positive update. Liam Tindall and Connor O'Beirne are in contention to play following injuries and Lewis Bienek will hopefully be ready for the next game against Hunslet. Jack Smith, Connor Barley and Kian McDermott and Lukas Mason make up the rest of the squad. Watch the full interview with Mike below. #WeAreLondon
by Jake Watson 13 June 2025
SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT: Toulouse Olympique vs London Broncos Mike Eccles has named the 21-man travelling party for this weekend’s trip to Toulouse as Brandon Webster-Mansfield is named for the first time since arriving. Alongside Webster-Mansfield we also Liam Tindall and Connor O’Beirne return, coming as a huge boost for the squad. Sam Winney also returns to the 21 for the first time since breaking his jaw in the away game at Barrow. Jack Smith who is on dual registration from Leeds Rhinos also joins the group after scoring two tries on his debut for the club against Widnes Vikings. Lewis Bienek remains the only major absentee however it is hoped he will be fit for the next game at Hunslet. #WeAreLondon
by Jake Watson 13 June 2025
TOULOUSE TRAINING GALLERY The final session with the squad before we fly out to Toulouse on Saturday ahead of Sunday's Championship clash at the State Ernest-Wallon. #WeAreLondon
by Jake Watson 12 June 2025
Half-season Tickets now available!! London Broncos are delighted to announce half-season tickets for the remainder of the season which offer huge discounts on buying regular tickets for each game. With just 6 home games remaining a general admission adult season ticket costs just £60 which is a huge 100% saving on buying individual tickets for each game.  Buy from the link below.
by Jake Watson 10 June 2025
Who has played for both? Toulouse Olympique & London Broncos It’s pretty common when we do these articles that there are a number of current players playing for the opposition, but perhaps Sheffield Eagles and Toulouse Olympique win the record for the highest number this season. So, before you all guess these five, Toulouse have 5 players in the current squad who have featured for London Broncos; Paul Ulberg, Ollie Ashall-Bott, Greg Richards, Callum Gahan and Rob Butler. Let’s focus on some of the players that no longer don the colours of either side and their history with us both; Rhys Curran An Aussie born French international, Curran spent two seasons at London Broncos before hanging up his boots. Still residing in London you can regularly expect to see Rhys coming down to The Cherry Red Records to support his former teammates. However, he can count a number of the Toulouse players as former teammates as he spent a very fruitful four seasons playing for the club between 2016 and 2019 and prior to that he played in Elite VIII for Villeneuve. Through residency (living for three years in France) Curran would play three times for the French national team in 2018.
by Jake Watson 10 June 2025
FANS FORUM - WHAT WAS SAID? Question: Are we going to change our name from London Broncos? GH: I changed the name at Leeds and I can tell you that at the time it was unpopular. The fans of Leeds didn't want to change names. They said, we don't want all these gimmicky names. We did change, and this is the best thing we ever did. They created a new logo, a new brand, a new identity in many respects, a new mascot, and it's the best thing we ever did. If you ask 99% of the Leeds Rhinos fans now they will say that was a pretty good decision. For us, it is being researched and ultimately no decision has been made and everyone needs to have an opinion and give it to me. It may well be (changed), and I was with a fairly prominent person the other day who came up with a very well-reasoned recommendation as to what the name should be. I thought, well, I never really thought about that, but it was a well-presented argument. We need as many of those as possible. We need to think about it and ultimately make a decision in the best interests of the club. Question: Are you going to share it? (suggestion for new name) GH: Well, since you've asked me the question, I will, yes. I won't give you the name of the person I'm talking to, but he's a very prominent person in the media, he's a Rugby League fan, and he's not an Englishman. But he was saying, in his opinion, the name should be simply London Rugby League. I said to him thank you very much for your suggestion and that it needs to be in the melting pot like all the other suggestions. Question: On behalf of all the long-standing London fans in this room tonight, and I know most of them personally, we've all been together for many years. Can we just thank you for the interest and the commitment you've taken to The Club? Thank you. Honestly, it's created a superb momentum because of someone of your stature being involved in London. So, thank you very much. GH: Well, thank you for that, and I feel very humbled by that and what I don't want to do is make any false promises. I think this is a fascinating journey, but it's a journey that I don't know how long it's going to take.  What I do know is it's all based on people's commitments coming together and as I've said several times, I don't have a magic wand. I think my role is to actually galvanise interest and commitment and try and give it an opportunity, manifesting itself for the collective good of the club. That's primarily my role in all of this. And I can see by the attendance tonight that there's a great passion and a great interest and a great commitment as well. So that's a pretty good starting point. So I'm pretty confident that we've got quite a few ingredients in place. It's going to be a tough journey because it's a tough league. The Super League is an incredibly tough competition. The Championship is a terrific competition and it's so competitive. So to make progress we need to be pretty well organised and ready to go. We're ready to go and ready to make progress and my role in all this is to try and actually organise that and make it happen.
by Jake Watson 9 June 2025
NEW PRE-ORDER STORE NOW ONLINE! London Broncos are delighted to announce a new pre-order shop from Paladin Sports is now live and includes the 2025 Women's Replica Shirts. For the first time you can now order the Women's playing kits in Mens, Women's and Kids sizings. Also added to the pre-order store is the return of the Bomber Jacket and also the Basketball singlet in Men's, Women's and Kids options. Browse the pre-order store HERE!!
by Jake Watson 9 June 2025
GAMEWEEK: Toulouse vs London Broncos London Broncos move into Round 13 of the Championship this season with an away trip to the league leaders Toulouse Olympique. With it undoubtedly one of the toughest tests of the season so far Mike Eccles will be looking to draw on inspiration from the last visit to Toulouse which saw us beat Sylvain Houles side and secure a place back in Super League. An update from the head coach will come later in the week but fans will be hoping to hear good news on the injury front with a number of key players closing in on a return to action.
More posts