MATCH REPORT: Doncaster RLFC 30-12 London Broncos
Jake Watson • 25 May 2025
MATCH REPORT: Doncaster RLFC 30-12 London Broncos
It was another defeat for London Broncos on the road as in-form Doncaster put on an impressive second-half performance to take points.
Prior to the match, Doncaster hadn’t beaten the Broncos in 31 years. However, when this game kicked off there was no doubt the Dons would be favourites to end that long run. Richard Horne’s side came into this game off the back of a standout win over high flying Halifax whilst Mike Eccles team were looking to end a run of five consecutive defeats.
The opening exchanges were physical and both sides made errors but neither could carve open any chances of note. The Broncos had in fairness the slightly better of the exchanges but the kicking was inaccurate and not building the pressure that was needed.
In Edene Gebbie, Doncaster had one of the in-form players in the competition, and was always the likely man to break the deadlock. That proved to be the case in the 22nd minute when the ball was swept out to the Doncaster left-hand side and when Gebbie simply stepped back inside it was enough to fool the Broncos defence who were unable to change their direction quickly enough. The PNG man had plenty of space to run through and touch down pretty close to the posts to leave a relatively simple conversion. DONS 6-0 BRONCOS.
Despite going behind it spurred the Broncos into action and instantly found themselves with good-ball sets. In the 27th minute they got on the scoresheet as the ball was moved swiftly to the left-hand side and Binks with a delicate flat pass to Aarron Small who had enough momentum to carry himself over. It wasn’t a straightforward conversion but Hellec just snuck the kick over despite the winds best efforts to pull it short. DONS 6-6 BRONCOS.
For the rest of the first-half it was the Broncos who kept pressurizing the Dons defence. Tindall and Polselli were looking lively and were running hard which was the launchpad for lots of the better attack. Following a Broncos penalty where Binks kicked deep into the Dons 20 it was Lovell who nearly scored again but he was stopped a couple of metres short. The resulting play saw Binks go for the delicate grubber but it was scuffed and the opportunity was lost. However, the pressure was seeing the home side make mistakes and a high tackle in the 39th minute resulted in another Broncos penalty and understandably opted to kick from 25 metres out. Hellec confidently struck the ball and on the half-time hooter it was a 6-8 lead.
The second-half of games have proven the sticking point for the Broncos this season with a number of games slipping away from minutes 40-80. The half got off to a pretty bad start as the kick-off was knocked on by the Broncos and despite defending the resulting set, during the opening minute Liam Tindall picked up an injury and hobbled off and wasn’t able to return. Chris Ball would play the rest of the game in the unfamiliar position on the wing.
Despite the adversity of the opening minutes it was the Broncos who had the best chance to get the first points of the half. The ball made its way out to Hellec who was too far out to take it the distance but a smart kick saw both Barley and Polselli in hot pursuit but the Dons were able to knock the ball dead. From the goalline dropout Broncos launched another attack but a poor decision from Walker to run it instead of moving the ball through the hands when it looked like they had a man over saw the chance go begging.
The middles had so far played almost all the minutes with only Ross rotating with Worthington before the 50th minute. However, Hursey-Hord was now introduced to give Adebiyi a much needed breather.
Broncos had been looking the most likely to score but in Gebbie and Watson Boas, Doncaster having some x-factor and with space will punish you. A break straight up the middle produced a two on one scenario and Boas was quick enough to race away and score under the sticks. DONS 12-8 BRONCOS.
Just five minutes later the home side would extend the lead with an almost carbon copy try with the break coming through the middle and the offload creating huge space in the Broncos defence. Polselli again outnumbered and this time Smeaton went under the sticks to score. DONS 18-6 BRONCOS.
It was beginning to have that sinking feeling again and with the win now looking unlikely the Broncos had to show some fight with just over 15 minutes of the game remaining. Binks and Walker kicked a lot better in the second half building some all important pressure but in truth Broncos carved out few meaningful chances. Connor Barley, who had put in a strong performance on debut, pushed for a try in the 68th minute but was tackled by a pair of Dons defenders a couple of metres short.
Monk was introduced for Davies in the 70th minute but frustratingly the home side's lead was almost immediately extended as Boas would score again and Robinson’s faultless conversions brought the score to 24-8 and the points pretty much safe. Just to be extra sure Doncaster went for the jugular and a grubber to Gebbie saw a downbeat Broncos defence breached once more. 30-8.
Despite the result already determined, Broncos carried on right until the 80th minute and Monk would get his second try of the season with almost the final play of the game. The Dons slow to react to a quick play the ball, Monk spotted a gap and made sure the Broncos would make it to double digits for the afternoon. Final score Dons 30-12 Broncos.
BRONCOS; Polselli, Hellec, Small, Barley, Tindall, Walker, Binks, Worthington, Davies, Adebiyi, Lovell, Natoli, Stock. INTERCHANGES; Monk, Hursey-Hord, Ross & Ball
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