A phrase that is normally used for a Broncos dismal away performance, however today the shoe was on the other foot, when Wakefield came to town. They were bulldozed over by a rampant Broncos team, scoring no less than 12 tries and Paul Sykes scoring 12 from 12 from the boot. The game will go down in history as one to remember for Broncos fans.
Before the match you could feel the tension building, with many including myself expecting a Wakefield victory. After their superb victory against the Warriors and with our poor discipline costing us defeat at the Willows.
Led out by stand in captain for the day Lee Hopkins, with Mark McLinden on the bench to a huge Broncos support I don’t think any fan had a clue what was about to come. Indeed in was Wakefield who started the brighter of the two sides, and Broncos soon started giving away penalties and one was for back chat. However this ill discipline soon went and the Broncos started to play flowing football. London piled on the pressure and this pressure soon told with Rob Purdham going in and Sykes duly converting. The try was somewhat of a shock to many Broncos fans who thought that Rob was initially held up; it was only when referee Ian Smith came over was the try awarded. This kicked the Broncos in to action, along with a fairly hefty snow shower.
As soon as the snow came, many were apprehensive what this would do to the players, after all many are from warmer climates and I heard even one fan informing our Australian continent that the white stuff falling was snow. Fans only had to wait another 7 minutes before in form Luke Dorn flew over in the corner after some confusion about who’s ball it was, but it came about after a magnificent run from find of the pre season Lee Hopkins. Sykes again converted from the corner to huge cheers from the Broncos fans.
Lee Hopkins then went over himself straight from the kick off and deciding to go himself when he had the choice of an overlap. Thankfully the overlap wasn’t needed the Broncos were 18-0 up and it wasn’t even 25 minutes in to the game. Now ask any fan what are London good at doing and they all say the same thing….. throwing away leads. Too many times before have London had commanding leads only to see them thrown away. There was one obviously advantage for the London side playing in by now were awful conditions and that was the wind. It was blowing straight down the throats of the Wakefield team and maybe this had something to do Londons purple patch, as a try from debutant Tyrone Smith followed after good interplay between the backs on the far side. With Luke Dorn breaking and putting Smith in for an easy try. It sent the Breamer Road stand in to a mental state of jubilation, but silenced an already quiet but quite large set of Wakefield fans who had made the trip South looking for warmer weather but also a win, neither were to happen today.
Before the half time hooter went London crossed the Wakefield white wash one more time with Anthony Armour barging over. Arguably any one of the props could have scored, with Mark Tookey especially making some notable runs, and even the odd pass or too. The hooter went with London 36-0 up, surely they couldn’t throw this away, only time would tell.
The wind had died down and a win was defiantly on the cards, unless Shane McNally could spring some magic in the dressing room, although arguably he had already played his trump card taking off former Widnes loose forward Julian O’Neil.
Half time saw a certain Mr Warren, try, try and try again at putting in a 40-20 after two contestants both tried and failed, but it ended in disappointment as his kicks ended up further in field than the touch line!!
So out came the Broncos for the second period, the next ten minutes were going to be crucial. It always seems that the 10 minutes after half term is Broncos weak spot. Again this seemed to happen again as Wakefield piled on the pressure after some silly errors by the Broncos, but not even the rampant Michael Korkidas could punch holes in a solid London defence. The try that probably sealed the victory came on 47 minutes, with Lee Greenwood showing why he is one of Super Leagues fastest. After quick hands from the Broncos, Lee found himself with a touch line to run down, but he wasn’t quite finished as he ran past two more Wildcats to put the ball under the posts to give Sykes an easy compared. Saying that Sykes made even the hardest kicks look easy today, scoring from any distance, and any side. Andy Robinson/Charlie Hodgson were you watching?
With the score at 42-0 the fun really started. The chants of We Love You London, Tony Rea’s Barmy Army, and the best of the lot Stevo, Stevo, Stevo, What’s the score? After Sky Sports reporter Phil Clarke tipped the Broncos for the drop. Today there was no sign of relegation as the Broncos certainly showed why they deserve to be near the summit of Super League.
Both Mark McLinden and Tyrone Smith then doubled their tally for the afternoon as both went under the sticks after slack play from the Wildcats. By this time more chants emerged, of easy, easy, Hughesie and can we play you every week, as the Broncos eased past the 50 point mark in fashion.
Only once was in 54-0 did Wakefield get on the score sheet through former Bronco, Darrel Griffin, but by then it was all over and came though poor tackling by the Broncos, showing that the defence still isn’t water tight. It would have been nice to nil them, but a Wakefield score wasn’t going to cause much bother to a Broncos side still looking at scoring more tries. Jamie Rooney’s attempt on goal seemed to sum up Wakefield’s day. In a position that was more than kickable for someone of Jamie’s ability, he hit the post and it went the wrong side to deny the Wildcats two extra points.
Luke Dorn then grabbed his second of the day after rounding the Wildcats fullback and Sykes converted in front of the posts. At this point there was still 13 minutes left and it seemed like every time the Broncos had the ball they were going to score. It certainly seemed like every time Wakefield kicked to the Broncos to restart the Broncos came straight back at them with a try.
Lee Greenwood and man of the match Thomas Leuluai finished the scoring for the Broncos, but it was Ben Jeffries who scored last for Wakefield right in the corner on the hooter, and this brought about a huge cheer from the Bronco faithful. The game finished 72-8. Don’t get me wrong the Broncos certainly played well, but Wakefield didn’t turn up today and through this and some the Broncos stopping the likes of Jason Demetriou, Jamie Rooney, Ben Jeffries, David March and Michael Korkidas playing the destructive game that blew Wigan and Bradford away in the previous rounds.
To sum up how well London played, you just have to see that when I asked my family and friends around me who should be man of the match and every single person said someone different showing that there was no one player that didn’t play their part in today’s performance.
Now you know Tony Rea by now, he will be happy but he will also know the season is 28 rounds long and not just decided on one fabulous victory, so expect a hard weeks training as they travel up to a reformed Bradford side after their great fight back against Wigan, both teams looking for a much needed 2 points.
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