LONDON DEVELOPMENT DOWN LONDON SKOLARS (by David Ballheimer)
Jake Watson • 20 March 2025
LONDON DEVELOPMENT DOWN LONDON SKOLARS (by David Ballheimer)
London Skolars (0) 6, London Development (20) 32
London Skolars’ annual Capital Challenge was played on 14 March against a London Development team, a squad of players being considered by the London Broncos, but not under contract to them.
The Development team, containing a couple of players who had appeared for the Broncos, made a superb start, scoring tries in their first, third and fifth possessions. After barely a minute, a pass out to the right wing picked out Jamaican international and former Skolar Leighton Ball, and he showed his athletic ability with a sprint to the line near the corner flag. Jenson Binks could not improve the score.
Three minutes later, a powerful run from Euan Parke took him through two poor attempted tackles and he had the speed to go past the defensive cover before touching down. Binks added the extras.
Ted Davidson was proving very hard to tackle and he scored the third Development try, in the 10th minute, again taking advantage of some weak defending to go over close to the left corner, leaving Binks with too much of an angle for Binks to improve.
A shower of rain about an hour before kick-off made the pitch rather slick and the handling from both teams could have been better. It also didn’t help that many of the players were new to team-mates and in the 22nd minute, the Skolars scrum-half was not happy with how his openside prop was packing, so he lifted his right leg to give a channel into which he could feed the ball.
It didn’t help because the ball was lost on the first tackle and from that set-piece, 70 metres from the Skolars line, the ball was fed to Davidson, who sprinted past everyone on his way between the uprights. Binks made no mistake
Careless handling by the Development squad gave the Skolars a good chance to get on the scoreboard late in the first half, but two over-eager kicks saw the ball roll dead in goal to concede seven-tackle sets from the 20. No advantage was taken by either side.
The Development team started the second half with another early try, this one a close-range effort which Binks again converted, this his best kick of the day. Ball nearly had his second try of the afternoon, but the pass to him, unmarked and 10 metres from the line, was far too high for him to have a chance of catching.
Skolars did get on the scoresheet, just before the hour mark, Josh Burke going over from close range after a period of pressure. The try was improved by the scorer to make the score 26–6.
The Development team were denied two more tries by very tight forward pass rulings, but they did go over again 10 minutes from the end, Will Randall getting on the scoresheet. Binks, who played the full 80 minutes, made no mistake with the kick.
Teams:
London Skolars (alphabetical order for squad): Brandon Angol, Joshua Anson, Christopher Appleton, Omar Benhoura, Reece Brett, Josh Burke, Callum Clayton-Smith, Emmanuel De Jesus, Nicholas Grimes, Orson Fairlamb, Odysseas Georgiou, Samuel Guthrie, Darryl Kambarami, Jasper McLachlan, Nicolo Motta, Alexander Ofulue, Rodell Reid, Ethan Tapol, Archie Walker.
Try: Burke 56.
Goal: 1/1
London Development: Shay Flanagan, Leighton Ball, Jamie Hewson, Ted Davidson, Charlie Randall, Jenson Binks, Sam Bloomer, Euan Parke, Connor Flanagan, Eamonn Iheme, George Harding, George Murray, Joe Allison. Replacements: Will Peasey, Will Randall, Ben Ratcliffe.
Tries: Ball 2, Parke 5, Davidson 10, 23, S Flanagan 43, Randall 71.
Goals: Binks 4/6
Penalty count: 7–4
HT: 0–20
Att: 150
The Best of North London vs the Best of South London do battle in Brentwood
MATCH PREVIEW: Widnes Vikings vs London Broncos It is the final weekend of the Championship season and London Broncos make the trip up to Widnes Vikings. Broncos were unable to sign off the home campaign with a win over Bradford Bulls but put in a positive display leading at half-time and scoring 24 points against the promotion hopefuls. Widnes have enjoyed a revival in recent months and made a late charge for the play-off positions. Ultimately a defeat at Halifax last week meant they would fall short but would still be confident of finishing the season on a high in front of their own supporters. SQUAD INFO Mike Eccles has named his 21-man squad for the final game of the 2025 Championship season. London Broncos finish the season with a trip up to take on Widnes Vikings at The DCBL Stadium on Sunday, 3pm KO. Worthington, Hellec, Hursey-Hord, Small and Okoro are all unavailable for the final game but in come Lukas Mason on dual-registration from Wigan Warriors as does Sam Winney. Rob Oakley is also named in the 21-man squad after returning from his ban. Oakley is a product of the club's academy and played for the first-team in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The 25-year-old has been training with the club in recent months and now available for selection he is named in the matchday squad.
SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT: Widnes Vikings vs London Broncos Mike Eccles has named his 21-man squad for the final game of the 2025 Championship season. London Broncos finish the season with a trip up to take on Widnes Vikings at The DCBL Stadium on Sunday, 3pm KO. Worthington, Hellec, Hursey-Hord, Small and Okoro are all unavailable for the final game but in come Lukas Mason on dual-registration from Wigan Warriors as does Sam Winney. Rob Oakley is also named in the 21-man squad after returning from his ban. Oakley is a product of the club's academy and played for the first-team in the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The 25-year-old has been training with the club in recent months and now available for selection he is named in the matchday squad. #WeAreLondon
INTERVIEW: Ted Davidson's journey to London Broncos first-team Ted Davidson recently made his full first-team debut for London Broncos in the Championship game at Batley Bulldogs. The 23-year-old was a stand out performer despite perhaps being a surprise inclusion in the starting 13. The centre has been in and around the club for a number of years after being spotted playing Origin whilst at junior club Elmbridge Eagles in 2018.
Join us on 23 Oct for a great night including Community Club Awards & Foundation Fundraising!
Awards presented at the Broncos by Rugby League Legend Darren Lockyer
GAMEWEEK: Widnes Vikings vs London Broncos It is the final weekend of the Championship season and London Broncos make the trip up to Widnes Vikings. Broncos were unable to sign off the home campaign with a win over Bradford Bulls but put in a positive display leading at half-time and scoring 24 points against the promotion hopefuls. Widnes have enjoyed a revival in recent months and made a late charge for the play-off positions. Ultimately a defeat at Halifax last week meant they would fall short but will still be confident of finishing the season on a high in front of their own supporters. You can buy tickets for the game HERE!!
LONDON BRONCOS V BRADFORD BULLS (by David Ballheimer) London Broncos (12) 24, Bradford Bulls (10) 34 London Broncos ended their 2025 home season with a defeat against Bradford Bulls, blown away by 40 minutes of power, strength and not a little skill. The Bulls, easily the physically biggest team the Broncos have faced this season, were completely outplayed for the first 35 minutes, when London might reasonably have hoped for a three- or four-try lead. In the eighth minute, the Bulls made a handling error inside their 10 and their desperate defence went too far as they were penalised for a ball-strip two metres from their line. This time, the Broncos made Bradford pay, Luke Polselli taking a short Connor O’Beirne pass and running through a large hole in the defence. Jack Smith, as he would do after every try, added the extras. Polselli figured frequently in attack, unfortunately knocking on five metres away from a second score, but then delivering a superb grubber kick that he almost reached, but Jayden Okunbor touched down moments before the London No.6. It led to a goal-line dropout which the Bulls were able to defend. Quite how much Bradford were struggling was shown by head coach Brian Noble, who worked as a mentor with the Broncos player-head coach Andrew Henderson at The Hive in 2015, came down to pitch-side to deliver tactical and technical advice first-hand. In the 26th minute, London again applied pressure on the Bulls line and, from dummy half, Brandon Webster-Mansfield burrowed under the markers for London’s second score. A third Broncos score before half-time might have put the game beyond Bradford’s reach. Instead, the Bulls made a key substitution, sending on the veteran Chris Hill. The prop, a winner of 41 international caps for England and Great Britain and almost 400 games in Super League, made it a personal crusade to offload every time he carried the ball. The game’s turning point came with a 35th-minute penalty to Bradford just inside London’s half. A kick inside the 20 gave the Bulls all the territory they required, especially when they got a repeat set of tackles. After a couple of carry-ups, the ball was sent to the left where Guy Armitage, given his chance in rugby league by the Broncos, forced his way over.
POST-MATCH: Mike Eccles following final home game of the season Watch the post-match interview from Mike Eccles following the final game of the 2025 season at The Cherry Red Records Stadium. In a wide ranging interview Mike discusses the result but also the plans moving forward for the club. #WeAreLondon
TEAM NEWS: London Broncos vs Bradford Bulls Here is your starting line up for this afternoon's final home game of the 2025 Championship season. Will Lovell and Sadiq Adebiyi return to the starting 13 after injury and Brandon Webster Mansfield starts after being an unused interchange last weekend. Ben Hursey-Hord also makes the 17 after being unavailable last week and Ted Davidson keeps a place in the matchday squad after impressing on full debut against Batley. #WeAreLondon
