Preview: 2024 Super League Round 1: St Helens Saints vs London Broncos

James Booth • 15 February 2024

The London Broncos begin their highly anticipated return to the Super League with a trip up to the Totally Wicked Stadium to face off against one of Super League’s most successful teams, St Helens Saints.


This is the first fixture since 2019 that the London Broncos have had in the Super League and after many months of patience and excitement, the Broncos’ Super League story is about to get underway!

 

To prepare themselves for the big season ahead, the Broncos have played in 3 pre-season matches against League one side Oldham (18-18 draw) and Super League sides Castleford Tigers (14-14 draw) & Huddersfield Giants (lost 50-16). Despite not claiming a victory ahead of the new season, Director of Rugby & Performance Mike Eccles does not seem concerned, stating that “We have learnt a lot of lessons in all three games. It was always going to be three tough away games and that has been what’s needed to ready us”.

 

St Helen’s have played two pre-season games in the build up to their 2024 Super League campaign, losing one to Swinton (18-28) and winning the other vs Salford Red Devils (52-10).

 

Speaking on our Round 1 matchup, Director of Rugby & Performance Mike Eccles had this to say:

 

“There has been a massive buzz around the place this week.

 

“I don’t think there is any pressure on us, no one is expecting anything from us, but we have higher expectations than that inside the camp.

 

“We are going to compete really hard every play of the game, every week.

 

“Internally we have a high purpose, irrelevant of what is said externally so there will be no dangers that we will compete really hard”.

 

As well as being the exciting start of the 2024 Super League campaign for the London Broncos, this fixture has also provided an opportunity for many London players to achieve a great career milestone by making their Super League debuts. Oli Leyland, Iliess Macani, Jack Campagnolo, Robbie Storey, Jordan Williams, Marcus Stock, Jack Hughes, Jensen Monk, Dean Parata, Emmanuel Waine, Jarred Bassett & Dan Hoyes are all players in contention to make their Super League debut tomorrow and etch their name into Super League history. They are all players to keep an eye on tomorrow night as they look to make an impression in one of the biggest games of their careers so far!

 

St Helens had a very successful 2023 Super League season, finishing 3rd in the regular season with a record of 20 wins and 7 losses, losing 12-6 to our Round 2 opponent, Catalan Dragons, in the Super League semi-final. After winning the Super League in 2022, St Helens also won the 2023 World Club Challenge after beating reigning NRL Champions Penrith Panthers 13-12 at the BlueBet Stadium in Sydney.

 

After what feels like an eternity to wait since our historic Grand Final victory last year, the London Broncos are finally ready to make their return to Super League! If you are not with us on the journey up to St Helens tomorrow, you can watch the game on either Sky Sports mix OR on Super League +. You can sign up to Super League+ for the game tomorrow or for the season by clicking here now!

TOULOUSE GALLERY

by Jake Watson • 16 June 2025
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: Toulouse vs London Broncos

by Jake Watson • 15 June 2025
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

by Jake Watson • 15 June 2025
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

by Jake Watson • 14 June 2025
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

by Jake Watson • 13 June 2025
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

by Jake Watson • 13 June 2025
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

by Jake Watson • 13 June 2025
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!!

by Jake Watson • 12 June 2025
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

by Jake Watson • 10 June 2025
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?

by Jake Watson • 10 June 2025
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.
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