MATCH REPORT: London Broncos vs Halifax Panthers

LONDON BRONCOS V HALIFAX PANTHERS (by David Ballheimer)

London Broncos (12) 20, Halifax Panthers (6) 14

London Broncos produced an excellent all-round performance to defeat Halifax Panthers and move outside of the bottom two. Backing up last week’s rout of Hunslet, this victory was built on outstanding defence. That said, apart from 15 minutes in the first half and a short while at the beginning of the second, they were the better team on both sides of the ball.

The Panthers started very well, aided by a penalty close to the London line. Hooker Adam O’Brien, going from dummy half, sensed a lack of certainty in the Broncos’ defensive line and burst through a large gap and scored the opening try, improved by Jack Hansen. 

Another repeat set gave Halifax another chance to get over the line but this time, the London defensive line was ready for dummy-half runs and both O’Brien and the much larger Adam Tangata were repelled. 

In the 11th minute, Connor O’Beirne launched a bomb that came down close to the Halifax line. A Broncos leaper pushed the ball backwards to Alex Walker, who put in a grubber which Luke Polselli almost reached but failed to ground the ball. From the seven-tackle set, Fax went a long way downfield, benefitting from a penalty, too, but the goalline defence was good enough to repel another O’Brien snipe. Halifax, it must be said, were far less of a threat when Tom Inman replaced O’Brien in the No.9 role.

Brandon Webster-Mansfield thought he had scored his first try in a London shirt after 18 minutes, but his interception, which did hit the ground, was ruled a knock-on. Webster-Mansfield, however, and team-mates close to the incident, were convinced that the ball had bounced off the centre’s forehead not his hands or arms. The referee and his assistants were not convinced.

Third time was the charm for London. A good possession inside the Halifax 20 was completed when O’Beirne delayed a pass just long enough for Lewis Bienik to burst into and through a hole in the line to touch down. Jack Smith had the kicking duties and he made no mistake to level the scores. 

Smith soon had to leave the field for a head injury assessment – opposite winger Liam Tindall had passed one earlier in the half – and while we was off, also passing the HIA, Alex Walker, who celebrated his 100th professional try last week, added the extras after Sadiq Adebiyi had profited from a repeat set to crash over from close range.

London have enjoyed half-time leads on a few occasions this season but lost them – and eventually the games – all too many times. And Broncos fans must have been fearing the worst when, helped by two repeat sets, Ben Crooks burst his way over the line near to the right touchline. The angle for Hansen was just too much and the kick drifted wide. However, Walker’s restart went dead in goal giving Fax a penalty on half-way, but they wasted the chance to score with a short field.

Ten minutes into the half, O’Beirne came close to extending the 12–10 lead, but he lost the ball in-goal, giving the Panthers a seven-tackle set from the 20. They made excellent yardage and Louis Jouffret’s kick hit a Broncos player before bouncing to a hooped shirt, giving a repeat set inside the London 20. The goalline defence was again equal to the challenge. For the next few minutes, both teams didn’t really respect possession, so the score didn’t change.

With an hour on the clock, London were penalised for being offside near to their goal-line. Hansen kicked the goal to level the scores, but parity lasted only four minutes as Crooks hit O’Beirne high and late to concede a penalty. His sanction was a stern lecture from the referee; his team’s sanction was to fall two points behind on Smith’s successful kick.

Entering the final 10 minutes, the Broncos went on the attack. O’Beirne was tackled on the fifth tackle, so was unavailable for a last-tackle kick. The ball was passed to Walker, who heard a call from the charging Webster-Mansfield and passed inside to the centre, whose angled run took him over the try-line close to the posts, from which Smith gave London the biggest lead for either team, a princely eight points.

The eight were soon cut to six as Marcus Stock was clearly offside when handling a London knock-on and Hansen kicked the penalty goal. The penalty of a seven-tackle set from the 20 following a missed drop (field) goal has been enough of a threat to reduce the number of attempts, and London decided not to try one when they were 30 metres from the Halifax line on a last-tackle play.

Instead, the Panthers had six tackles from 15 metres away from their line and they made excellent use of the possession. Good runs from David Nofoaluma and Jouffret set up a great opportunity. The ball was rapidly passed to the right wing where Ben Tibbs was waiting. He seemed odds-on to touch down in the right corner, but Aaron Small flew across to the corner and forced the winger to put a foot in touch before grounding the ball.

There was still time for two more Panthers possessions but, with increasing desperation, they could not keep control of the ball and the Broncos were able to celebrate a fine two competition points.

London Broncos: 6, Luke Polselli 33 Jack Smith, 4 Brandon Webster-Mansfield, 20 Aaron Small, 5 Liam Tindall, 1 Alex Walker, 7 Connor O’Beirne, 10 Lewis Bienik, 9 Curtis Davies, 12 Sadiq Adebiyi, 11 Will Lovell, 3 Ethan Natoli, 13 Marcus Stock. Replacements: 17 Jenson Monk, 18 Ben Hursey-Hord, 22 Matt Ross, 31 Joe Diskin. 18th man: 23 Sam Winney,

Tries: Bienik 26, Adebiyi 32, Webster-Mansfield 71

Goals: Smith: 3/3, Walker 1/1

Sin-bin: none

Halifax Panthers: 23 David Nofoaluma, 2 Ben Tibbs, 3 Charlie Graham, 4 Ben Crooks, 5 James Saltonstall, 1 Louis Jouffret, 7 Jack Hansen, 33 Leon Cowen, 9 Adam O’Brien, 16 Ronan Dixon, 19 Zack McComb, 12 Adam Tangata, 13 Jacob Fairbank. Replacements: 14 Tom Inman, 17 Will Calcott, 22 Maxime Jobe, 34 Vila Halafihi. 18th man: 20 Brad Graham,

Tries: O’Brien 3, Crooks 43

Goals: Hansen 3/4

Sin-bin: None

Referee: Aaryn Belafonte

HT: 12–6

Penalty awarded count: 4–7

Attendance: TBA



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