Match Report: Doncaster RLFC

London Broncos 68 - 18 Doncaster RLFC

London Broncos extended their unbeaten run in the Betfred Championship with a victory over Doncaster.

Doncaster opened the scoring in the third minute after a London handling error. The visitors moved the ball from left to right and, on the final tackle, Bureta Faraimo passed to Watson Boas, who scored in the right corner. Connor Robinson's conversion attempt was unsuccessful.

Both teams had handling errors during the opening stages. After Doncaster lost possession for a second time, London equalised when Alex Walker's long pass found Neil Tchamambe, who scored in the left corner.

London spent much of the first half in attacking territory, forcing Doncaster to kick from inside their own half. Jimmy Meadows also forced two goal-line drop-outs with kicks. From the first, Finley Glare scored from dummy half.

Shortly afterwards, a pass from Cory Aston made contact with Watson Boas on the London 30-metre line. Glare collected the loose ball and ran the length of the field to score in the left corner. Meadows missed the conversion.

The second goal-line drop-out travelled deep, with Walker returning the ball close to halfway. Following carries towards the Doncaster line and after Siliva Havili was tackled just short, but he managed to offload to Ben Hursey-Hord, who scored London's fourth try.

Doncaster then conceded two consecutive penalties. From the resulting field position, Connor O'Beirne, shortly after entering from the interchange bench, ran through the defensive line to score near the posts.

After 30 minutes, Alex Walker was tackled by Bureta Faraimo, leading to an on-field confrontation involving players from both teams. Following the incident, Faraimo was shown a yellow card, Jimmy Meadows was also sin-binned, and Doncaster interchange player Isaac Misky was shown a red card before entering the field.

Just before half-time, Brandon Webster-Mansfield scored London's sixth try after running through a gap in the defensive line. With Meadows temporarily off the field, Webster-Mansfield converted the try.

Doncaster began the second half by scoring the first two tries. Shortly after returning from the sin-bin, Faraimo collected a cross-field kick and scored in the left corner.

Five minutes later, Robinson's kick found Faraimo on the right wing, where he grounded the ball despite pressure from Elliot Wallis. Robinson converted, reducing the deficit.

London responded in the 54th minute when Walker attacked through the right-centre channel, drew defenders and passed to Gairo Voro, who ran through the gap to score near the posts.

Doncaster scored again shortly before the hour mark. Cory Aston's chip kick was collected by Watson Boas, who grounded the ball in the in-goal area. Robinson's conversion attempt struck the upright and was unsuccessful.

During the final quarter, London scored five further tries. Following a Doncaster offside penalty, Connor O'Beirne passed to Reagan Campbell-Gillard, who scored near the posts.

From their next possession, Siliva Havili broke clear and passed to Luke Smith, who scored under the posts.

London's following possession ended with Meadows breaking through the defensive line before passing to Campbell-Gillard. Before reaching the try line, Campbell-Gillard passed to Voro, who scored his second try.

Doncaster then conceded two penalties in quick succession. From the resulting attacking position, Smith scored his second try after receiving a short pass from O'Beirne.

In the closing moments, Lewis Bienek received a pass from Meadows, broke through a tackle attempt and scored his fifth try of the season.

After the final siren, Meadows converted the final try, taking his season total to 117 successful goals.

London Broncos: 22 Alex Walker, 26 Neil Tchamambe, 3 Robert Mathias, 20 Brandon Webster-Mansfield, 2 Elliot Wallis, 23 Gairo Voro, 18 Jimmy Meadows, 8 Reagan Campbell-Gillard, 14 Finley Glare, 10 Emarly Bitungane, 11 Luke Smith, 19 Ben Hursey-Hord, 13 Siliva Havili.

Replacements:  4 Alex Max, 6 Connor O’Beirne, 16 Epel Kapinias, 24 Lewis Bienek. 18th man: 12 Jack Croft

Tries: Tchamambe (10), Glare (15, 20), Hursey-Hord (24), O’Beirne (28), Webster-Mansfield (37), Voro (54, 70), Campbell-Gillard (63), Smith (66, 75), Bienek (80)

Goals: Meadows 9/11, Webster-Mansfield 1/1

Sinbin: Meadows (30, retaliation)

Doncaster RL: 1 Tom Holmes, 2 Bureta Faraimo, 24 Watson Boas, 23 James Glover, 5 Luke Briscoe, 6 Cory Aston, 7 Connor Robinson, 10 Suaia Matagi, 9 Greg Burns, 17 Muizz Mustapha, 14 Jacob Jones, 22 Luis Johnson, 13 Loui McConnell. Replacements: 11 Sam Smeaton, 20 Isaac Misky, 21 Tyla Hepi, 28 Thomas Whitehead. 18th man: 16 Pauli Pauli.

Tries: Boas (3, 60), Faraimo (43, 48), 

Goals: Robinson 2/4

Sinbin: Faraimo (30, dangerous tackle)

Dismissal: Misky (30, fighting – from the replacements bench)

 
Match report by David Ballheimer