London blow away York City Knights in Tom Tsang’s first game in charge

London Broncos made an excellent impression on their new senior head coach Tom Tsang as they earned a 50-22 win over at home to the Wembley-bound York City Knights.

While most eyes may have been fixated north-east of Ealing Trailfinders Sports Ground on Sunday for the EURO 2020 final, both London Broncos and York City Knights still had business to attend to in the Betfred Championship.

Their fixture signified the beginning of a new era for the Broncos as following the rather abrupt exit of Danny Ward in the managerial hot seat, Tom Tsang had been promoted from Academy head coach to senior head coach and took charge of the side for the first time. Tsang does not lack of experience, having had an eight-year stint in charge of the Coventry Bears previously. His appointment at London is, at least for now, on an interim basis but that may change if he is successful in the immediate future. 

Huddersfield born, Tsang’s first test also came against a Yorkshire outfit in the form of York City Knights, for whom this game represented a final preparation for the 1895 cup final at Wembley next weekend. The Knights came into this game in poor form, following four successive defeats, whereas London were looking to rectify their drubbing at the hands of York’s 1895 cup final opponents, Featherstone Rovers, last time out. 

Lineups 

London Broncos: Oliver Leyland, Tuoyo Egodo, Josh Hodson, Chris Hankinson, Abbas Miski, James Meadows, Jarrod Sammut, Pat Moran, Rob Oakley, Greg Richards, Will Lovell, Josh Walters, Daniel Hindmarsh 

Interchanges: Jacob Jones, Titus Gwaze, Jacob Ogden, Will Blakemore 

Head Coach: Tom Tsang 

York City Knights: Kieran Dixon, Perry Whiteley, Liam Salter, Ryan Atkins, Jason Bass, Riley Dean, Danny Washbrook, Ronan Dixon, Will Jubb, Jack Teanby, Sam Scott, Danny Kirmond, Chris Clarkson 

Interchanges: Corey Johnson, Marcus Stock, Jordan Baldwinson, Tim Spears 

Head Coach: James Ford 

Tsang’s Broncos started the game in an ill-disciplined fashion, giving away a succession of penalties, but York failed to punish them for doing so and suffered for it soon after as London capitalised on a Chris Clarkson error to go over for the first try of the game through Will Lovell. Teammate Chris Hankinson duly obliged with the conversion and Broncos had a 6-0 lead early on.

In the ten minutes that followed, visitors York had plenty of opportunities of their own to tie things up, but again failed to take them and were punished for it by a determined London. This time, the Broncos stretched the York defence and had numbers on the right hand side to allow Josh Hodson to get himself over the tryline, and with another successful conversion, extended their lead to 12-0. 

Soon after, the visitors really were their own worst enemy and gifted the hosts a third try of the game through usual goal-kicker Hankinson. The Broncos’ James Meadows dinked a kick to the in-goal area, and at first glance it seemed academic that York’s Perry Whiteley would claim it. However, the Knights’ winger completely overshot the ball, leaving Hankinson to score what must be one of – if not the – easiest tries of his career to date. Wigan Warriors loanee Hankinson added the extras to his own try and made it 18-0 with little over 20 minutes gone. 

Whiteley then looked as if he was going to make amends for his error by diving over in the corner, only for Hankinson to dislodge the ball in the tackle. It didn’t take long after that for Whiteley to get himself over the line however, as Riley Dean picked off a wayward James Meadows pass and found the outside ball to the winger. Whiteley – who spent some time on loan with Featherstone earlier this campaign – was able to comfortably out run the chasers and touch down for York’s first points of the game and make it 18-4. 

Goal-kicker Kieran Dixon missed the conversion for that try, but almost immediately made amends for it by scoring a try of his own thanks to teammate Danny Washbrook breaking the line and setting him up to stroll in under the sticks past the last few remaining scrambling defenders. Dixon converted his own try too, to leave the game 18-10 with just over five minutes until the break.

Just before half-time came, London did grab a further two points through a successful penalty conversion, but as the teams headed in at the interval the game very finely poised, York trailing 20-10 having looked to be a long way out of it at one stage. 

However, a scrappy start to the second half saw Broncos grab the first try with Lovell again going over, and from there on, the hosts ran away with it.  Tuoyo Egodo bulldozed his way through the York game line, ultimately setting the scene for Lovell to score.

It appeared that there were many chinks in the Knights’ armour, and London were able to seriously exploit them throughout the second period. 

Hankinson went over for his second of the match before turning provided for academy product Oli Leyland, who went over under the sticks for his first senior try. Lebanese international Abbas Miski was the next to do so as he sidestepped a Riley Dean tackle and went over at a canter. 44-10 the score with around 20 minutes remaining

Fatigue seemed to be a serious problem for York, and London were finding it all too easy to carve open their defensive line though the visitors were able to salvage somewhat of a respectable scoreline, scoring two late tries. The first being Will Jubb capitalising on a tap and go and somehow burrowing his way under the Broncos defenders to get the ball down, and the second scored by former Warrington Wolves man Ryan Atkins. 

Those two tries sandwiched by the ‘filling’ of one final Broncos score, Jacob Jones using his fresh legs to bundle over the line, exploiting some weary York legs. Come full-time, London triumphed by a scoreline of 50-22.

Analysis 

All in all, Tom Tsang will be absolutely delighted with his team’s performance in what was his first game in charge of the first team. This performance, perhaps, has laid waste to the notion of London’s season possibly petering out following Ward’s exit, though that must be backed up in weeks to come for the statement to reign true. 

For York, this was the worst possible preparation for the 1895 cup final. They have slumped to a fifth successive defeat, and in the second half looked every bit like a team sat in 12th in the Championship. When you consider that Featherstone put 63 points past London last week, who have just put 50 past York in turn, the writing would appear to be on the wall for the Knights in their final against the Rovers at Wembley.

York head coach James Ford will be alarmed at how easily they were broken down by London in the second half, and disappointed that they couldn’t take advantage of being largely on top in the first half. They will need to make serious improvements if they are going to avoid being embarrassed at Wembley, let alone compete or win the game against Featherstone. If improvement doesn’t happen, and Featherstone are on their ‘A-game’ on the day, then it really could become a long afternoon for the Knights. Following that final, regardless of the result, they will have to turn their attentions back to sorting out their league form and try to avoid being dragged into a relegation scrap at the bottom of the table. 

As for London, the Broncos now move up to fifth in the Championship table, leapfrogging Batley Bulldogs following their loss to Toulouse. The play-offs seem more and more likely by the week, and if Tsang’s side continue beating the teams below them in the table then it will only be a matter of time before it is mathematically confirmed. They’ll look to continue this run in a fortnight’s time when they host Widnes Vikings, against whom they were victorious earlier in the season thanks to a last gasp Titus Gwaze try. 

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