MATCH REPORT- HALIFAX PANTHERS VS LONDON BRONCOS

MATCH REPORT- HALIFAX PANTHERS 40-12 LONDON BRONCOS

It was a difficult afternoon for the Broncos as they were comfortably defeated by a free flowing & confident Halifax Panthers side. Despite the increased effort in the second half, it wasn’t enough to be able to close the gap on the sizeable margin which Halifax had placed on London in the first half.

The afternoon began with Alex Walker kicking to Halifax from left to right. Unfortunately, before fans had the chance to settle themselves in their seats, Halifax had already put points on the scoreboard. In the third minute, the Panthers had their first big break of the game through the middle of the field and the ball found itself in the hands of Charlie Graham who was able to score the first try of the afternoon and with Jouffret’s successful conversion, the score became Halifax 6-0 London Broncos.

After a five minute period of back and forth play by both sides, which included a powerful Marcus Stock run into the Panthers’ half, the home side struck once more with another break. On this occasion, it was Jouffret who exploited a defensive hole on the left hand side of the pitch and with just the fullback to beat, he was able to pass to James Woodburn-Hall who scored his first try of the afternoon virtually uncontested. A second Jouffret conversion made the score Halifax 12-0 London Broncos after just eight minutes.

The third try of the afternoon for the home side came from pure intensity and power. A number of explosive runs by the Panthers forwards through the London defence placed the Broncos in a vulnerable position and Adam O’Brien took advantage of his opportunity by scoring the try on the right hand side of the posts. With the straight forward positioning of the tee, Jouffret was able to add the extras relatively easily, and the score became Halifax 18-0 London Broncos- not a good position to be in just fifteen minutes into the game.

Heading into the twentieth minute, the Broncos were the master of their own downfall once more as Tangata utilised his athleticism to not only break through a number of Broncos attempted tackles but then was able to take the ball down the field and pass to Woodburn-Hall who was able to score his second try of the afternoon. Halifax 24-0 London.

From this point until the thirtieth minute, it would be a fair assessment to say that Halifax dominated. A confident home side, swiftly moving the ball from one side of the pitch to the other, were able to march the ball down the field. However, with a couple of miscues including an attempted pass which went out of bounds & a couple of dropped balls, allowed the Broncos to keep Halifax at bay. This was the case up until the thirtieth minute, where Calcott was able to find another space in the defence and tucked himself in to score. Halifax 30-0 London.

HALF TIME: HALIFAX PANTHERS 30-0 LONDON BRONCOS

With the second forty minutes beginning, it was clear to see that London wanted to put right their wrongs of the first half; the team attacked with purpose and with the objective of putting some points of their own on the scoreboard. However, it was clear to see that there was issues with the execution of the Broncos, and mistake after mistake allowed Halifax to overcome the early threat. The next big mistake for the Broncos came after Polselli failed to keep hold of the high kick on the fifth, gifting Halifax a scrum in dangerous position which Tangata then proceeded to take advantage of as he scored the team’s sixth try of the afternoon. Halifax 34-0 London.

From here until the sixtieth minute, there was a real spring in the step of London who looked like a different team to who had played in the first half. If you were watching the game, you could make the argument that Bienek being reintroduced to the field was a big factor of this. His powerful line breaks and impressive offload ability marched the Broncos deep into the Halifax half, which was then taken advantage of by Polselli, who exploited a gap in the middle of the park to score London’s first points of the day. Halifax 34-6 London.

Just three minutes later, the Broncos found themselves with even more points on the board as Bienek, once again, powered his way through the defence from the restart and offloaded to Adebiyi who was able to drive the ball into the Halifax half. Once the Broncos were on the fifth, the high kick was gathered by Polselli who was able to make the offload to Walker who could score under the posts. A second successful conversion for the visitors made the score Halifax 34-12 London.

London seemed like a different side entirely after these two try’s and pushed hard to score a third. However, after multiple penalties against Halifax, Polselli dropped the ball just inches away from the try line and Halifax were able to restore balance to the game.

This balance was taken advantage of by Halifax late in the game as Tangata made a massive break down the blindside of the field, shrugging off two Broncos tacklers before eventually being brought down by Alex Walker. Halifax then got the ball to the other side of the field effortlessly, where Charlie Graham was able to score a try and put the icing on the cake for the home side, cementing a solid & convincing victory.

FULL TIME: HALIFAX PANTHERS 40-12 LONDON BRONCOS