In a week in which the Broncos found themselves returning home since the end of May, a new owner revealed and with more news to follow everyone was hoping for a win to give the team a four point gap between play off chasing Wigan, however it wasn’t just the weather that was hoping to rain on our fantastic week.
London started the game without influential New Zealand scrum half Tommy Leuluai and at the start it really did tell. Indeed London started off the worse of the two sides with Huddersfield hooker Brad Drew sneaking over from all of 30 cm. It was a poor try to concede and the Broncos were punished further, as former Bronco Chris Thorman made it 6-0 with barely 2 minutes on the clock.
It went from bad to worse for the Broncos as they seemingly were content on playing running rugby football in conditions that were more like the local swimming pool. Throwing, fumbling and juggling the ball all over the place it looked like it could be a long afternoon for the returning Broncos. The potential was there and this was apparent when great interplay between Mbu and Trindall near the Giants line nearly set up a try but it all got far too complicated and extravagant, a scrum duly followed.
The important thing was that London were doing something and their play soon adjusted and before the 10 minute mark the points were level as a beautiful pass gave Sykes the opportunity to slide in at the corner, he followed this up by converting his own kick.
Our ever present utility back went from hero to villain in the space of about two minutes, but before he did Thorman weaved through the leaky London defence to cross the whitewash showing that missed tackles cost us dear. 12-6 down and Thorman himself looked like he could destroy the Broncos single handed. From the resulting kick Sykes booted the ball out on the fall AGAIN!!! Giving Hudds a penalty. Don’t get me wrong Paul is a great kicker his stats show it all, one of the Leagues top point’s scorers and the only player to score in every round so far, but his kicking off is somewhat dodgy and after Bradford I am surprised it is still happening. This has to be one of his weaknesses and will cost the Broncos games, not just two points.
In the following play Huddersfield extended their lead when Chris Thorman slotted over a penalty making it 14-6.
London by now looked lacklustre and were in great doubt of keeping up with a determined Huddersfield. It wouldn’t take much, they weren’t playing amazing just playing the conditions better. Special praise must be given to the likes of Chris Thorman and Wayne McDonald who particularly caused the Broncos problems sucking in lots of players in to the ruck area. What amazed me was Wayne’s ability to offload at ease, he just popped it over the Broncos head because he’s so big!
Half way through the first half and fans favourite Mark Tookey stepped on to the scene and not even his direct running could help the team as they just went sideways with no running from depth or go forward. However…. That very tactic gave the London boys a try, they went one side and were met by a white wall of Giants, booted in a cross field kick, NBQ picked up, fumbled it and somehow flicked it on to Rob Purdham who crossed for his tenth try this season. Sykes converted and so now the teams were just separated by the Chris Thorman penalty, with London in the ascendance.
It was on 26 minutes that the best moment of the game came. Thorman kicked off, it landed at Tooky’s feet he picked up bounced off a couple wearing white and then sprinted away leaving all in his wake until he was finally caught on the half way line. Not too sure if it’s a good thing to know that our props really can run considering there were no players in support. Nonetheless it was still good to see.
London soon took the lead for the first time in the game with NBQ going over for his trademark 4 pointer in the corner, Sykes couldn’t covert however. London now in the lead by two, and were playing well.
Huddersfield were soon showing the effects of the London pressure as Chris Thorman then did a Sykes and booted the ball out on the fall from the kick off.
Tookey then got in to the act barraging over in typical Tookey fashion. Sykes converted to make it 22-14. It was a purple patch for the Broncos as they had scored three tries in twelve minutes to turn the game on its head. It was this spell that ultimately meant the points were staying in London.
Huddersfield who had a couple of repeated sets just could not break the Broncos line. The defence looked sturdier, but it still didn’t stop us throwing the kitchen sink to it at times. At half time the Broncos went in 22-14 up.
The second half didn’t start too brightly as first Spakles left the field and went straight down to the changing rooms and then Lucky was involved in a serious looking accident with the advertising boards as he defended against a Giants kick. The game was delayed and concern was etched over every Broncos face, is he ok and more importantly it’s one more added to a lengthening injury list. The good news was that both appeared to be fine and were sitting in the dug out by the time the final hooter game, albeit with Lucky on crutches.
Huddersfield then closed the gap on the Broncos by 2 points as Thorman converted a penalty for an apparent spear tackle, although it did look a bit dubious. Summed up referee Klein’s game, at best inconsistent at worse missing Huddersfield’s constant abuse of the offside rule.
London then took the game by the scruff of the neck as Tyrone Smith, who had it must be said had a quiet game crossed over in the corner. The try was made by a beautiful pass from Luke Dorn which opened a huge gap for Joe Mbu to sail through, Joe himself was unlucky not to score and perhaps with support runners coming from left, right and centre perhaps London should’ve scored earlier in the set. Sykes converted, London now 28-16 up.
London were to get on the score sheet once more before Huddersfield would show any sign of possibly coming back in to the game. Jon Wells ran from dummy half, sucked in several defenders, off-loaded it to Luke Dorn who dinked past the full back to go in under the posts. At 34-16 up with 20 minutes to go the game looked safe surely.
Huddersfield and Chris Thorman had other ideas. First Crabtree had a try disallowed for a forward pass and then Tom Hemingway put in a massive 40-20. It was more like a 20-20. It gave Huddersfield a sense of urgency and not for the first time the Giants crossed the whitewash in a soft try, during which the Broncos missed several tackles. At 34-22 with 10 minutes to go, the Giants could have still dug themselves back for a point if not the victory.
However, mistakes were still apparent none more so than from the player London only two weeks ago released. Lee Greenwood spooned several try scoring chances but possibly more worrying for his new coach Jon Sharp, 3 arguably 4 tries were conceded down his wing, showing his defence frailties.
The game was made safe 5 minutes from time when Sykes sealed the one pointer meaning the Giants would need to score three times for victory, it seemed time would be their own worst enemy. They did however, cross just once more to make the final score 35-26.
The Giants were outplayed over 80 minutes and the Broncos deserved the win, but you have to feel slightly sorry for Chris Thorman, who was immense and didn’t deserve to be on the losing side.
It was a far from polished performance and granted the conditions were terrible but the likes of Leeds, Hull and St Helens would have torn us to pieces. Saying that a win is a win and it now means we have a slight cushion on our nearest rivals. Making the play-offs must be our top priority. We are in form and have the team to do it, my only worry is the players possibly getting burnt out, injuries are creeping in and this like in the past has proved to be our downfall.
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