London Broncos in search of first competitive win of the season as they take on the Bradford Bulls in the Challenge Cup

Embed from Getty Images

Jermaine Coleman and his London Broncos side set up to try and find solace in the Challenge Cup Fourth Round as they welcome an underperforming Bradford Bulls side.

It has been an unsurprisingly difficult transition from full-time to part time as the London outfit have lost all of their games at the start of their Betfred Championship campaign.

In their last outing, the Broncos showed signs of improvement as they kept it tight with Featherstone for an hour, with some improved attacking options and scores from Dean Parata and Oli Leyland.

Tries from Brandon Pickersgill and Craig Hall ultimately secured the points for the table-toppers, but there were far more positives to take from that performance.

Bradford, meanwhile, have faced difficulties of their own, much to the distress of their fan base.

A comfortable 46-16 win at Dewsbury was the perfect start to the 2022 campaign for the Bulls, but things went rapidly downhill.

A shocking 28-14 home defeat against Sheffield Eagles immediately set John Kear’s side back, only to be followed by a 38-4 humbling by Leigh Centurions.

The Bulls kept things tight up until half-time at Leigh Sports Village, going in at 8-4 down, but a second half collapse saw them concede 30 unanswered points.

As such, both sides will have great desire to get their seasons on track with progression in the Challenge Cup.

The Broncos have seen little success in the Challenge Cup over the years, making it past their round of entry only twice since reaching the Semi-Final in 2013.

Bradford have had a rather more illustrious Challenge Cup history, winning the trophy five times in their history. As well as this, the Bulls have had more success in the game’s most famous cup competition, reaching the Quarter-Final in 2019 and being edged out by Super League’s Wakefield Trinity just days before the nation entered lockdown in 2020.

The Broncos will see this as somewhat of a free hit and an opportunity to build momentum, and as such, Coleman has made four changes ahead of the clash. Jude Ferreira will return to the lineup as well as Wellington Albert, Brad Foster and Jordan Williams.

As for Bradford, Elliot Hall is set to make his debut after joining from Batley Bulldogs and Jordan Lilley returns to the fray.

These two sides will lock horns for the first of three confirmed times this campaign and will look to progress to the Fifth Round for a potential tie with a Super League outfit.

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt