Another foregone conclusion as St Helens made the journey south to take on a London Broncos side now cut adrift at the bottom of the table following Hull FC’s victory over the Leeds Rhinos yesterday afternoon but in a round where Leigh beat the Catalans Dragons, Salford overcame Warrington and the Tigers ran the Warriors close, who knew what surprise could happen.
London were given a thirty-four point start on the handicap coupon as the bookies, pundits, and supporters of both sides predicted a walkover for Paul Wellens side as they sought the two points which would again propel them to the top of the table as we pass the half way stage in the 2024 competition.
Surely it was just a matter of how many the Saints would win by.
There was an early blow for Saints Makinson left the field within the opening two minutes after picking up an ankle injury in the early exchanges.
On seven minutes Waqa Blake leapt to take a Moses Mbye cross field kick in the London in goal area and dropped to the ground for a 4-0 lead. Mark Percival added the touchline conversion with deadly accuracy.
On thirteen Jack Welsby was held up over the line but two minutes later Blake got his second, leaping for the touchdown off another great Mbye miss-out pass. Percival was again on target from the touchline for 12-0.
A beautiful Saints try on eighteen, through three pairs of hands including Sione Mata’utia who found Lewis Dodd to score under the sticks and give Percival a far simpler conversion for an 18-0 scoreline on twenty minutes.
Moses Mbye pushed his way over the line for his own try after making a couple of the earlier Saints efforts. Percival made it four from four for 24-0, the visitors coasting to a simple win.
A double movement from Noah Stephens denied him his first try in the St Helens colours on thirty-seven as London managed to get to the end of the half without shipping in any more points.
It took five minutes of the second half before the London defence was carved apart by the Saints attack with Daryl Clark taking a James Bell offload to go ten metres to score. Percival made it five from five as the Saints lead went to thirty points.
Bell was again the provider on forty-nine, and again it was a try for Clark which he served on a plate, the Saints hooker dotting down under the uprights and giving Percival a simple sixth goal.
Clark completed a seven-minute hat-trick as he was again on hand to take a Mata’utia pass and run in unopposed from twenty metres out. Percival added the conversion for 42-0, it was starting to look ugly again for London.
Konrad Hurrell was not one to be left out of the try scoring and grabbed his try on seventy minutes, crashing onto a Jack Welsby pass eight metres from the line and stretching out to score under the tackle. Percival missed his first conversion of the afternoon, Saints four adrift of the fifty.
The fifty arrived on seventy-five, Percival getting his try as he chased down a Lewis Dodd grubber and won the race with Kershaw to ground. He added the conversion to his own try for 52-0, another thrashing for the Broncos on their home ground.
With just over a minute remaining Lee Kershaw grounded a James Meadows kick to the corner for the smallest amount of consolation for the home side as they avoided a nilling. OliLeyland added the conversion from the touchline for a final score of 6-52.
A thoroughly professional job from St Helens who will be left stinging a little that they didn’t manage to keep a clean sheet after seventy-nine minutes of lock out. Saints are back at the top of the table, above Wigan Warriors on points difference. London’s points difference suffered another big blow and after Hull doubled their points haul yesterday the writing is on the wall for their season.
London Broncos: Walker, Kershaw (T), Storey, Bassett, Miloudi, Leyland (1/1 G), Meadows, Bienek, Tison, Kennedy, Lovell, Natoli, Jones. Subs: Adebiyi, Williams, Stock, Waine. 18th Man: Davies.
St Helens: Welsby, Makinson, Hurrell (T), Percival (T, 8/9 G), Blake (2T), Mbye (T), Dodd (T), Delaney, Clark (3T), Lees, Sironen, Mata’utia, Bell. Subs: Paasi, Royle, Davies, Stephens. 18th Man: Bennison.
Half-Time: 0-24.
Full-Time: 6-52.
Score Progression: 0-4, 0-6, 0-10, 0-12, 0-16, 0-18, 0-22, 0-24 :HT: 0-28, 0-30, 0-34, 0-36, 0-40, 0-42, 0-46, 0-50, 0-52, 4-52, 6-52 :FT.
Lead Exchanges: St Helens.
Referee: James Vella.
