Broncos snatch victory late on against Vikings at the DCBL

Danny Ward’s London Broncos were behind for over 70 minutes of the encounter before Titus Gwaze went over for the crucial score to send the visitors back down south with a 24-22 win. 

Widnes were the aggressors in the early stages of the clash, powerful in both attack and defence, and were rewarded with the first points of the afternoon after just four minutes. Having hauled Broncos’ Gwaze into touch deep into the opposition’s half, the Vikings shifted the ball to Danny Craven who executed a hand-off dummy to perfection and powered his way over the line to give the home side an early lead. Ste Tyrer added the extras and had his side 6-0 to the good.

Evidently shaken up, it was imperative that London remained calm and worked there way into this contest. They did just that with one of their best moves of the game as Josh Hodson broke the Widnes line from a short pass and made a 40 metre carry before being brought down by Widnes’ early try-scorer Craven. Unfortunately for the home side, Craven was deemed to have held on to his opponent for too long by the referee and was sent to the sin bin for doing so.

Keen to take advantage of the extra man, the Broncos pounded Widnes’ defence through the middle before shifting it out wide, where Chris Hankinson was able to pick out Abbas Miski in space, who then had the easy task of running the ball in for a try. Hankinson himself converted the kick and the scores were back level as the clock ticked past the 12 minute mark.

Having conceded , Simon Finnigan’s Vikings did a tremendous job of nullifying London for the remaining duration of Craven’s sin bin. Moments before the 29-year-old was able to return to the field, Joe Edge prevented them from falling behind with some strong defence to force a seemingly try bound James Meadows into touch as he headed for the corner.

Coinciding with the return of Craven, the game then took a scrappy turn and both sides made unnecessary errors in the form of knock ons and offsides in challenging humid conditions. No further points were to be scored until five minutes before the break, when Widnes took advantage of one of those penalties and chose to kick at goal. Tyrer duly obliged and sent the ball sailing over the sticks to earn two points and to nudge the Vikings back in front by 8-6 approaching half-time.

Before the hooter could go however, Finnigan’s team went one better and ran in another try courtesy of an error on the part of a Broncos team chasing the game. Danny Ward’s Broncos overcommitted men forward on the sixth tackle, and the kick from Jarrod Sammut fell straight into the arms of Adam Lawton. A quick shift of the ball to Deon Cross allowed the Vikings to run the length of the field for a try of their own and once again, Tyrer’s kick was spot on to leave the score at 14-6 as the two sides went in at the break.

With the nature of Widnes’ late first half points flurry, London knew that they needed to get the first points on the board in the second half to prevent the game getting away from them and they did just that through Rhys Curran no more than four minutes post-restart. The Frenchman capitalised on some miscommunication in the Widnes defence and made something from a seemingly stagnant Broncos set, clawing his team back into the game into the process with the help of the additional two points from the boot of Hankinson.

Now just two points ahead, Widnes took the game by the scruff of the neck and began to put the visitors under a considerable amount of pressure once again, which came to fruition approaching the hour mark with a bulldozing try by birthday boy Lawton. Taking advantage of a mismatch in the opposition’s defence, Lawton went over for his seventh try in as many matches but unusually, Tyrer missed what looked to be a relatively straight forward conversion which would eventually come back to bite his side though at this point, Widnes were 18-12 in front.

The Vikings kept control after this try and sustained pressure on the Broncos, edging further into their territory and conceding few tackles in the process as well as pinning the visitors back into their own half during defensive sets. That said, Finnigan’s men weren’t able to make their pressure count and against the run of play, they were caught napping. As they were shuffling over to cover a wide threat, a space was left and allowed Romain Navarette to force his way over the try line. Unlike Tyrer, Hankinson remained consistent with his successful conversions and with 12 minutes of the game remaining, the two sides were level at 18-18.

Throughout, the metaphoric pendulum swung both ways, and straight from the kick-off following Broncos’ equalising try, they made a mistake which handed the advantage back to Widnes well and truly. Miski was deemed to have played the ball incorrectly and with the ball back in hand, the home side made no mistake, Joe Edge crashing over for his first try of the season. With circa 10 minutes left, the Vikings were back in front but again, Tyrer’s conversion was dragged wide of the mark so the scoreboard showed 22-18.

That seemed to have the game wrapped up for Widnes, as they were running in the sets in the London half, but one lapse close to the end cost the Vikings very dearly. Cory Aston did brilliantly to steal the ball for the Broncos and charged down field with it, looking like he might be able to go all the way at one point, but was brought down close to the try line. After a short recycling of the ball, Sammut used his own pace to break through Widnes’ make-shift defensive line and handed it off to Titus Gwaze who bundled his way over and levelled the scores with less than two minutes remaining.

It was then left to Hankinson to convert again for the win, and he made no mistake. Inevitably, Widnes’ missed conversions had come back to haunt them and had ultimately cost them an important two points come the sound of the full-time hooter, losing out 22-24.

Reflection

A fourth win in five for the Broncos leaves them fifth in the Betfred Championship table and leaves Widnes in a lowly ninth place.

Finnigan’s Vikings will look to bounce back as they return to the DCBL stadium for another home fixture next week against the side directly above them in the table, Sheffield Eagles. Meanwhile, the Broncos will host a Whitehaven side winless since early May. 

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