Thanks to this afternoons Salford Red Devils win over a hapless Hull FC, London Broncos came into tonight’s penultimate round fixture out of the bottom position in Super League for the first time this season, thanks to a slightly better points difference.
There could be no better motivation for a fourth win of the year but they were up against a Catalans Dragons side who needed the two points themselves to keep their slim hopes of a top six finish alive going into the last weekend of the season.
The Dragons were massive favourites with the bookies, the visitors seemingly without a hope.
The Dragons had the best of the opening exchanges but some resolute defence from the Broncos frustrated them inside the last ten metres. The Dragons had the majority of possession and position but there was always a chance that London would hit them on the break.
On twenty-seven the deadlock seemed to have been broken when Ben Garcia burrowed over but the referee sent the decision to the video official as a NO TRY and there was no evidence to overrule him.
The stadium was silenced on thirty-one when London took the lead with Lee Kershaw taking a Campagnolo looping pass, threw the dummy, and went through a gap to round closer to the posts to enable Oli Leyland to kick the conversion for an unlikely 6-0 lead.
A high tackle from Arthur Romano gifted the Broncos a penalty and another two points from the boot of Oli Leyland.
On fifty the crowd exploded as the Dragons got their first points of the games with a late offload from Julian Bousquet into the hands of Benjamin Garcia who passed quickly to send Jarrod Wallace through a gap to score. Arthur Mourgue added the conversion, and the London lead was down to just two points.
On the hour the home side hit the front with Arthur Romano diving over the line as he collected a Mourgue grubber kick towards the corner. Mourgue added the conversion for a 12-8 lead.
On sixty-seven Chris Satae was sin-binned for a late hit, hope rekindled for London.
A Sam Tomkins try was ruled out on seventy-four for shepherding but with a couple of minutes to go London spilled the ball on the Catalans ten metre line and the chances of a miracle result drifted away from the visitors.
The Dragons played their ‘get out of jail free’ card as they managed to scrape a victory from a poor performance which keeps them in the running for the last of the play off places, but the likelihood is a distant one due to their inferior points difference. London lost but finish the round in eleventh spot by virtue of a single point advantage in points difference to Hull, who themselves face the Dragons next weekend while London face Warrington.
There is still so much to be decided on the last weekend of the regular season.
Catalans Dragons: Mourgue (2/2 G), Davies, Romano (T), Laguerre, Yaha, Abdull, Tomkins, Navarrete, Garcia, Satae (SB on 67), Sims, Sironen, McMeeken. Subs: Bousquet, Rougé, Dezaria, Wallace (T). 18th Man: Laguerre.
London Broncos: Rourke, Kershaw (T), Natoli, Bassett, Miloudi, Leyland (2/2 G), Campagnolo, Butler, Davis, Kennedy, Lovell, Jones, Stock. Subs: Tison, Bienek, Adebiyi, Waine. 18th Man: Storey.
Half-Time: 0-6.
Full-Time: 12-8.
Score Progression: 0-4, 0-6 : HT: 0-8, 4-8, 6-8, 10-8, 12-8, (SB) :FT.
Lead Exchanges: London - Catalans.
Referee: Marcus Griffiths.
