josie andrews wrote:Hardly a poor Leeds side! At least ten players there have played for the first team this season!London Broncos finally got their first win of the season in a rollercoaster of a game which saw them come back from a first half deficit of 24-8 to snatch victory by scoring 20 points in the final quarter.
Teenage half-back Joe Keyes took the man-of-the-match award with a stunning hat-trick but this was a real team effort.
Head coach Joey Grima said: "To come back from that deficit that we gave Leeds Rhinos, it's hard to believe. It's really, really tough, given the season we've had and it's very hard not to get emotional. It's certainly one of the greatest wins that I've certainly been involved in in my coaching career.
"When I addressed them at half-time I challenged them to be mentally tough and I congratulated them for their mental toughness to grind out that game. Irrespective they had seven or eight of their better players out, they are a quality side and that showed out there in the first half."
Despite Leeds making nine changes from the team that beat Warrington last week in the Challenge Cup semi-final, the Broncos seemed to be heading for another big defeat when they conceded five tries in the first half, two of which were converted.
London replied with touchdowns from Jordan Atkins and Keyes but another converted try by the Rhinos two minutes into the second half to make it 30-8 seemed to herald another defeat. But the fight back began when Kieran Dixon, playing his first game of the season, finished off an initial break by Keyes with Nesi Mataitonga putting the wingman over in the corner.
Five minutes later Josh Walters was forced into touch to give the Broncos a good attacking scrum. Following a break by Scott Moore the ball was moved wide to enable Mike McMeeken to touch down. The conversions by Josh Drinkwater made it 30-20 but a try by Mitch Achurch converted by Liam Sutcliffe put Leeds 16 points ahead going into the final quarter.
The Broncos could have buckled but instead they turned in their best 20 minutes of the season. Moore finished off a break down the left, then Keyes darted over from dummy half and with Drinkwater again on target with the boot they trailed by just four points with 10 minutes remaining. A minute later Keyes collected his hat-trick with a dazzling solo effort and Drinkwater's conversion edged his side ahead 38-36.
He then added a penalty but in the final seconds the Rhinos looked to have salvaged at least a point when Kallum Watkins broke down the right and dived over in the corner as the hooter sounded. However, the touch judge had raised his flag for a foot in touch which sparked wild celebrations from the Broncos and their fans.
Speaking about the performance of Keyes Grima said: "Given that Joe hasn't had an off season in the past two seasons he's already playing above his maturity level. Given that we've had to throw him in at the deep end to lead a side around that hasn't been travelling terribly well puts on a lot of pressure and it brings a lot of people undone.
"Having watched him develop over the nine, 10, 11 weeks I've been in charge, it's certainly someone that you could build your club around. The good thing about Joe is he doesn't let it get to him, he's pretty casual and sometimes could be misunderstood because of his relaxed nature however, he's certainly got all the skill attributions offensively.
"They've got some world class outside backs and he just continued to put his body in front of those defenders. For an eighteen year old to score three tries against arguably one of the best outside backlines in the competition deserves credit."
LONDON BRONCOS
No. Name
1 Ben Farrar
2 Kieran Dixon 1T
3 Nesiasi Mataitonga
4 Denny Solomona
5 Jordan Atkins 1T
6 Josh Drinkwater 6G
7 Joe Keyes 3T
8 Jon Wallace
9 Scott Moore 1T
10 Nick Slyney
11 Mike McMeeken 1T
12 Atelea Vea
13 Matt Cook
14 Erjon Dollapi
15 George Griffin
16 Oscar Thomas
17 Olsi Krasniqi
LEEDS RHINOS
No. Name
1 Zak Hardaker 1T 1G
2 Tom Briscoe
3 Ash Handley
4 Kallum Watkins 1T
5 Ryan Hall
6 Liam Sutcliffe 2T 3G
7 Ben White
8 Ryan Bailey
9 Paul Aiton
10 Brad Singleton
11 Mitch Achurch 2T
12 Stevie Ward
13 Josh Walters 1T
14 Elliot Minchella
15 Ian Kirke
16 Chris Clarkson
17 Ashton Golding
http://www.londonbroncosrl.com/rugby/fi ... /5419.php?
Six full Internationals in that Leeds side and can't say they didn't go for the win - they actually led by 22 points during the match !