It wasn’t a question of who would win the basement encounter between the London Broncos and Hull FC, it was more a question of how many Hull FC would win by as any notion of defeat for the Black and Whites was simply unthinkable.
The bookies were confident in a win for the away side, giving the Broncos a twelve-point start on the coupon, the Airlie Birds only win in 2024 was the last ditch 28-24 victory over todays opponents when the sides met back at the beginning of March.
FC were undefeated in their last twelve meetings with the London side, a stretch meaning that the Broncos moniker has never defeated a Hull FC side. London simply didn't stand a chance.
There were no clear-cut opportunities in the opening exchanges as defences prospered and attacks broke down.
It took just over twenty minutes for the Airlie Birds to register the first points of the game, Herman Ese’ese crashing through the Broncos defensive line and grounding by the left upright. Jack Charles added the conversion for a 6-0 lead, nerves settled amongst the FC fans.
Within three minutes the Broncos were in themselves, Hakim Miloudi breaking for eighty metres after collecting a Hull kick on his own twenty and then finding the inside pass to Alex Walker to step off both feet and go over from ten metres out. Oli Leyland added the conversion to level the scores.
The scoring was becoming like a basketball match as a mistake from Leyland gifted Hull the ball in the London twenty and a couple of plays in Jake Trueman went through a gap and stretched for the line to score. Charles was on target again for 12-6.
A hand from Tom Briscoe prevented a second London try on thirty-five. On the last tackle of the resulting set, James Meadows threw the dummy and found a way through the Hull defence to dive for the line, again by the uprights to give Leyland a simple goal to level the scores with just under three minutes of the half remaining.
Four seconds from the interval and the home side took the lead after Liam Sutcliffe put the kick off dead in goal. Using all their tackles Walker was the provider for Robbie Storey to run through the tackle and stretch for the line to score. Leyland was wide with the touchline conversion, London with a four-point lead at the interval.
Following an excellent Danny Houghton 40-20, and seven minutes after the restart, Hull were back on level terms as Yusuf Aydin somehow managed to force the ball onto the ground under a pile of Broncos tacklers who had dragged him over the line. Charles added the conversion to edge his side ahead by two points.
Jordan Lane was sin-binned for a late tackle on fifty-three, Hull down a man for a crucial ten-minute spell. Leyland missed the resulting penalty and lost the chance for London to go back to level terms. But two minutes later a jinking run from Jarred Bassett saw the centre over for a four pointer to regain the lead for the Broncos. Leyland added the conversion for 22-18.
There was finally some daylight for London when Lee Kershaw backed over the line after some frantic play from the Broncos to force the ball onto the ground under a crown of Hull tacklers. Leyland added the conversion for 28-18, a ten-point lead for the Broncos with eighteen minutes remaining, Hull paying the price of the Lane sin-binning.
On sixty-four Morgan Smith went over the line for FC but was unable to ground the ball in the opinion of both the on-field referee and the video official.
Twelve minutes from time Leyland intercepted a wayward FC pass and sprinted fifty-five metres to score under the sticks and give himself a simple conversion for 34-18. The London Broncos had their first win of the year, a deserved one, over a Hull FC side who cannot string together a consistent eighty minutes to save their lives.
A scrappy last ten from both sides ran the clock to eighty with no further points scored, London registering an impressive sixteen point victory to the delight of the home support.
The first win of the 2024 season for London still leaves them in bottom spot, on points difference, to Hull FC but they are now level on league points and have a little bit of momentum to build upon to try and lift themselves up the table, at least above the side that they vanquished today. Richie Myler appears to still have a lot of work to do at Hull but it's London's day for celebration.
London Broncos: Walker (T), Kershaw (T), Storey (T), Bassett (T), Miloudi, Leyland (T, 5/7 G), Meadows (T), Adebiyi, Tison, Kennedy, Natoli, Lovell, Stock. Subs: Makin, Bienek, Jones, Butler. 18th Man: Williams.
Hull FC: Walker, Briscoe, Scott, Sutcliffe, Martin, Trueman (T), Charles (3/3 G), Ese’ese (T), Houghton, Aydin (T), Lane (SB on 53), Sao, Cator. Subs: Chan, Jebson, Pele, Smith. 18th Man: Moy.
Half-Time: 16-12.
Full-Time: 34-18.
Score Progression: 0-4, 0-6, 4-6, 6-6, 6-10, 6-12, 10-12, 12-12, 16-12 : HT: 16-16, 16-18, (SB), 20-18, 22-18, 26-18, 28-18, 32-18, 34-18 :FT.
Lead Exchanges: Hull – Square – Hull – Square – London – Square – Hull – London.
Referee: Chris Kendall.
