London Broncos boss Mike Eccles described his side’s capitulation against Wigan Warriors as ‘immature’ after they slipped to a heavy 60-22 defeat in Round Four of the Betfred Super League live on Sky Sports.
The Capital outfit were right in the fight for the first half, and a Jordan Williams try early in the second half saw the Londoners just six points behind the defending Super League Champions, but Wigan came back roaring and eventually ran away with the win.
Speaking to the media after the game, Eccles said: “We’re really upset as a team, as staff, players, all of us with the score line today. (It was) naive to let that blow out by 60, it was very naive and very immature.”
“They go for the two points after 50 minutes to get an eight-point lead and they end up with a 40-point lead; that’s a massive learning for our team, how not to let a score blow out like. I’m disappointed because I thought we could have took that game deep today and after 50 minutes or so, just before the yellow card, I thought it looked like that was probably going to happen.”
Despite the heavy score line, London did put up a good fight. They notched four tries, and this left Eccles again taking away some positives from the game: “today I thought we attacked pretty well, we had hardly any territory and we scored four tries but we should have scored five tries against Wigan at home. Normally in a game then aren’t you, so in every game this season there’s been something to take out of it.”
Two of the Broncos four tries fell to new recruit Lee Kershaw, and Eccles was full of praise for the former Trinity man: “He took his tries well, he could have had a hat-trick couldn’t he; again we left one out there, but it was good.
Super League new boys lose to Champions
Wigan Warriors celebrate opening try against London Broncos-Copyright Ken Sparks
The reigning Super League and World Champions got off to the best possible start with two tries in the first 10 minutes.
A clever steal from Luke Thompson gifted Wigan possession in London territory, and quick hands from debutant Jack Farrimond sent Jake Wardle over for the score. His effort was swiftly followed by a second, as Abbas Miski burrowed over from short range to score against his former side.
London needed to stem the tide, and they did just that as Jacob Jones crashed over from short range for their first score of the game.
Wigan hit back quickly though, as Tyler Dupree fought his way to the line for their third try of the half.
The try fest nearly continued, but both sides saw tries chalked off the record. Patrick Mago couldn’t resist the urge to reach out and score after the tackle was adjudged to be completed, and this was quickly followed with an acrobatic Lee Kershaw effort, but the former Wakefield man dropped the ball in the act of scoring.
The Super League Champions did eventually get their forth of the afternoon through Harvie Hill, with the young forward running through three Broncos defenders for his first try in Wigan colours.
Kershaw was denied earlier one, but the former Trinity man couldn’t be denied a second time as he again went over in the corner. His effort cut the Warriors lead to just 10 points going into the sheds.
The Broncos momentum continued in the opening exchanges of the second-half, as Jordan Williams latched onto Rhys Kennedy’s audacious offload to score.
Wigan made the next dents in the scoreboard to take the sting out of the Broncos. Adam Keighran’s goal grew their lead to eight points, an effort which ultimately opened the floodgates for the Warriors.
Brad O’Neil scampered in from dummy half shortly after Keighran’s penalty. His score was swiftly followed by Patrick Mago, who avenged his earlier ruled out try.
If this wasn’t enough for the traveling Warriors supporters-who were in great voice all afternoon-Zach Eckersley raced home from 70 metres to score his first for the club.
Ryan Hampshire would be the next Warrior to get his name up in lights, as coasted in from the back of the scrum.
The one way traffic eventually ended, as Kershaw grabbed his second of the afternoon in almost identical fashion to his first.
A costly knock-on from the resulting kick-off gifted the defending champions the ball just 10 meters out, which allowed Hill to notch his second of the match after some silky play from Mago and Tiaki Chan.
Wigan gave their traveling supporters one final treat through Adam Keighran. A perfectly executed training-ground move saw Jai Field scamper through the Broncos defence, who then sent the former Catalans Dragon in to round off a dominant win for the defending champions.
