MATCH PREVIEW: Barrow Raiders vs London Broncos
Jake Watson • 17 April 2025
MATCH PREVIEW: Barrow Raiders vs London Broncos
London Broncos have their longest away trip on UK soil this week as they make the trip up to Cumbria to take on Barrow Raiders.
Broncos have lost their last two games and last three away games so will be looking to bounce back with a win on Good Friday. Mike Eccles’ side were a matter of seconds away from victory against Batley Bulldogs at The Cherry Red Records but suffered heartbreak as Alfie Dean scored in the final play to send the Bulldogs back to West Yorkshire with the points.
Barrow have enjoyed a good start to the season and come into this game off the back of a good win at Widnes Vikings with a 37-12 win. It means in the early stages of the season after 6 games the Raiders have won 4 and currently sit in 4th place.
BARROW RAIDERS v LONDON BRONCOS - THE STATS
London are undefeated in their last four away meetings with Barrow, having won three and drawn one.
Barrow's last home victory against the capital side (as London Crusaders) was a 37-12 Second Division win on 3 October, 1993.
Last ten meetings:
Barrow 6, London Broncos 26 (ChR21, 6/8/23)
London Broncos 30, Barrow 16 (ChR11, 13/5/23)
London Broncos 20, Barrow 30 (ChR27, 11/9/22)
Barrow 18, London Broncos 18 (ChR6, 20/3/22)
Barrow 6, London Broncos 72 (ChR23, 29/7/18)
London Broncos 56, Barrow 12 (ChR1, 4/2/18)
(at Trailfinders Sports Ground, Ealing)
Harlequins 82, Barrow 8 (CCR5, 20/5/06)
(at Twickenham Stoop)
London Broncos 30, Barrow 6 (SD, 11/12/94)
(at Barnet Copthall)
Barrow 10, London Broncos 16 (SD, 4/9/94)
London Crusaders 52, Barrow 14 (SD, 27/2/94)
(at Barnet Copthall)
ONE TO WATCH - TEE RITSON
On-loan from St Helens the speedy winger returned to Craven Park this season hoping to replicate the sort of form that earned his move to the then Club World Champions. The 29-year-old scored a remarkable 70 tries in 71 games between 2019 and 2023 before attracting the attention of Paul Wellens. Since his move to The Totally Wicked Stadium his try scoring exploits haven’t hit the same heights but being back in Barrow working under Paul Crarey once again he will be a player that will need close attention from the Broncos defence.
LAST TIME OUT
Our last visit to Barrow was in Round 21 of the 2023 Championship season and it was a successful visit with the Broncos winning 26-6 at Craven Park.
You can watch the highlights from that game below.
TOULOUSE GALLERY You can now take a look through the best images from the Championship clash with Toulouse at the State Ernest Wallon. Photo credit: David Gibson #WeAreLondon
POST-MATCH REACTION: Mike Eccles following narrow Toulouse defeat London Broncos Director of Rugby & Performance Mike Eccles felt that despite defeat in France to the league leaders Toulouse Olympic, it was a performance with "plenty of positives and lots to build on." The Broncos would twice take the lead in the first-half only to be pegged back on both occasions to go into the break 12-12 but a last minute try from Benjamin Laguerre would seal the points for Sylvain Houles side. Watch the full post-match interview with Mike Eccles below. #WeAreLondon
TEAM NEWS: Toulouse Olympique vs London Broncos Here is your starting line-up for this afternoon’s Championship with Toulouse at the Stade Ernest-Wallon. Brandon Webster-Mansfield comes in at centre to make his full debut and Connor O’Beirne returns to the starting line-up following injury. #WeAreLondon
MATCH PREVIEW: Toulouse Olympique vs London Broncos London Broncos head into one of the stand out fixtures of the season on Sunday when they make the trip to the south of France to take on Toulouse Olympique. Not only is it a visit to the side topping the Championship table but it is also the destination of one of the best days in the club's recent history. Securing promotion against Toulouse in 2023 was the last meeting between the two sides but despite the Broncos coming out on top that day it is the French who will be favourites on Sunday. Broncos come into this game on the back of a losing run but shoots of improvements were clear to see in the narrow defeat to Widnes last time out and will be boosted by the squad named. Squad Information Mike Eccles has named the 21-man travelling party for this weekend’s trip to Toulouse as Brandon Webster-Mansfield is named for the first time since arriving. Alongside Webster-Mansfield we also Liam Tindall and Connor O’Beirne return, coming as a huge boost for the squad. Sam Winney also returns to the 21 for the first time since breaking his jaw in the away game at Barrow. Jack Smith who is on dual registration from Leeds Rhinos also joins the group after scoring two tries on his debut for the club against Widnes Vikings. Lewis Bienek remains the only major absentee however it is hoped he will be fit for the next game at Hunslet.
MATCH PREVIEW: Mike Eccles looks ahead to Toulouse trip London Broncos Director of Rugby & Performance Mike Eccles has done his pre-match interview ahead of the trip to Toulouse and has offered a positive update. Liam Tindall and Connor O'Beirne are in contention to play following injuries and Lewis Bienek will hopefully be ready for the next game against Hunslet. Jack Smith, Connor Barley and Kian McDermott and Lukas Mason make up the rest of the squad. Watch the full interview with Mike below. #WeAreLondon
SQUAD ANNOUNCEMENT: Toulouse Olympique vs London Broncos Mike Eccles has named the 21-man travelling party for this weekend’s trip to Toulouse as Brandon Webster-Mansfield is named for the first time since arriving. Alongside Webster-Mansfield we also Liam Tindall and Connor O’Beirne return, coming as a huge boost for the squad. Sam Winney also returns to the 21 for the first time since breaking his jaw in the away game at Barrow. Jack Smith who is on dual registration from Leeds Rhinos also joins the group after scoring two tries on his debut for the club against Widnes Vikings. Lewis Bienek remains the only major absentee however it is hoped he will be fit for the next game at Hunslet. #WeAreLondon
TOULOUSE TRAINING GALLERY The final session with the squad before we fly out to Toulouse on Saturday ahead of Sunday's Championship clash at the State Ernest-Wallon. #WeAreLondon
Half-season Tickets now available!! London Broncos are delighted to announce half-season tickets for the remainder of the season which offer huge discounts on buying regular tickets for each game. With just 6 home games remaining a general admission adult season ticket costs just £60 which is a huge 100% saving on buying individual tickets for each game. Buy from the link below.
Who has played for both? Toulouse Olympique & London Broncos It’s pretty common when we do these articles that there are a number of current players playing for the opposition, but perhaps Sheffield Eagles and Toulouse Olympique win the record for the highest number this season. So, before you all guess these five, Toulouse have 5 players in the current squad who have featured for London Broncos; Paul Ulberg, Ollie Ashall-Bott, Greg Richards, Callum Gahan and Rob Butler. Let’s focus on some of the players that no longer don the colours of either side and their history with us both; Rhys Curran An Aussie born French international, Curran spent two seasons at London Broncos before hanging up his boots. Still residing in London you can regularly expect to see Rhys coming down to The Cherry Red Records to support his former teammates. However, he can count a number of the Toulouse players as former teammates as he spent a very fruitful four seasons playing for the club between 2016 and 2019 and prior to that he played in Elite VIII for Villeneuve. Through residency (living for three years in France) Curran would play three times for the French national team in 2018.
FANS FORUM - WHAT WAS SAID? Question: Are we going to change our name from London Broncos? GH: I changed the name at Leeds and I can tell you that at the time it was unpopular. The fans of Leeds didn't want to change names. They said, we don't want all these gimmicky names. We did change, and this is the best thing we ever did. They created a new logo, a new brand, a new identity in many respects, a new mascot, and it's the best thing we ever did. If you ask 99% of the Leeds Rhinos fans now they will say that was a pretty good decision. For us, it is being researched and ultimately no decision has been made and everyone needs to have an opinion and give it to me. It may well be (changed), and I was with a fairly prominent person the other day who came up with a very well-reasoned recommendation as to what the name should be. I thought, well, I never really thought about that, but it was a well-presented argument. We need as many of those as possible. We need to think about it and ultimately make a decision in the best interests of the club. Question: Are you going to share it? (suggestion for new name) GH: Well, since you've asked me the question, I will, yes. I won't give you the name of the person I'm talking to, but he's a very prominent person in the media, he's a Rugby League fan, and he's not an Englishman. But he was saying, in his opinion, the name should be simply London Rugby League. I said to him thank you very much for your suggestion and that it needs to be in the melting pot like all the other suggestions. Question: On behalf of all the long-standing London fans in this room tonight, and I know most of them personally, we've all been together for many years. Can we just thank you for the interest and the commitment you've taken to The Club? Thank you. Honestly, it's created a superb momentum because of someone of your stature being involved in London. So, thank you very much. GH: Well, thank you for that, and I feel very humbled by that and what I don't want to do is make any false promises. I think this is a fascinating journey, but it's a journey that I don't know how long it's going to take. What I do know is it's all based on people's commitments coming together and as I've said several times, I don't have a magic wand. I think my role is to actually galvanise interest and commitment and try and give it an opportunity, manifesting itself for the collective good of the club. That's primarily my role in all of this. And I can see by the attendance tonight that there's a great passion and a great interest and a great commitment as well. So that's a pretty good starting point. So I'm pretty confident that we've got quite a few ingredients in place. It's going to be a tough journey because it's a tough league. The Super League is an incredibly tough competition. The Championship is a terrific competition and it's so competitive. So to make progress we need to be pretty well organised and ready to go. We're ready to go and ready to make progress and my role in all this is to try and actually organise that and make it happen.
