MATCH PREVIEW: Featherstone Rovers vs London Broncos
Jake Watson • 4 April 2025
MATCH PREVIEW: Featherstone Rovers vs London Broncos
London Broncos are in cup action this weekend as they take on Featherstone Rovers in the quarter-final of the 1895 Cup away at Post Office Road.
With a place at Wembley just two games away both sides will have a focus on reaching the competitions final which is played before the Challenge Cup final. In 2023, the last time Broncos played in this competition, they reached the semi-final losing out to Halifax Panthers.
Mike Eccles has named his squad for the weekend and the 20 named sees the return of Lewis Bienek who missed the win over Hunslet after suffering a headknock in the previous game at Oldham. Also returning this weekend is Taylor Kerr and Lukas Mason from Wigan Warriors. Lastly joining the squad this week is Sam Davis. The Broncos academy graduate has joined on dual-registration terms from Salford and we look forward to seeing Sam back in a Broncos shirt.

Alex Walker starred for the Broncos the last time they played away at Featherstone in the 2023 play-off semi final as he opened the scoring in a famous win for the club.
Since then we have played Featherstone just once which was the opening home game of the current season with the Broncos also winning however with a recent change of coach, Walker thinks Rovers may be a different proposition.
Watch Alex Walker’s full pre-match interview below.
THE NUMBERS - FEATHERSTONE ROVERS v LONDON BRONCOS
Last ten meetings:
London Broncos 14, Featherstone 12 (ChR2, 23/2/25)
Featherstone 26, London Broncos 36 (ChSF, 8/10/23)
Featherstone 50, London Broncos 6 (ChR15, 18/6/23)
London Broncos 10, Featherstone 40 (ChR9, 16/4/23)
London Broncos 22, Featherstone 42 (ChR18, 10/7/22)
(at Kuflink Stadium, Ebsfleet)
Featherstone 30, London Broncos 12 (ChR4, 19/2/22)
London Broncos 28, Featherstone 48 (ChR21, 12/9/21)
(at Trailfinders Sports Ground, Ealing)
Featherstone 63, London Broncos 14 (ChR12, 3/7/21)
London Broncos 10, Featherstone 34 (ChR4, 1/3/20)
(at Trailfinders Sports Ground, Ealing)
Featherstone 7, London Broncos 14 (ChR22, 22/7/18)
ALEX WALKER needs two tries to reach 100 for his career.
- 81 for London Broncos (2014-2019, 2022-2025)
- 7 for Featherstone Rovers (2021, loan)
- 2 for Wakefield Trinity (2020-2021)
- 6 for London Skolars (2016, dual-registration)
- 2 for Scotland (2015, 2017, 2019, 2021-2022)
(0 for Hemel Stags, 2016, loan)
LAST TIME OUT
Watch the highlights of the last trip to Featherstone Rovers with the Broncos claiming a famous win in 2023.
#WeAreLondon

TEAM NEWS: Widnes Vikings vs London Broncos Here is your starting line up for this afternoon’s final league game of the season away at Widnes Vikings. Jensen Monk comes in to start at prop as Adebiyi and Hursey-Hord drop out of the squad following injuries last weekend. Rob Oakley is in the matchday squad and is joined on the interchanges with Rugless, Porter and Ross. Today Lewis Bienek makes his 150th appearance and Will Lovell his 250th - and also his 198th for the club moving him into 2nd all time. #WeAreLondon

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.
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