London Broncos 50 Workington Town 28: Workington Town were their own worst enemies as they were on the wrong end of a 50–28 scoreline at a scorching London Broncos.

Despite conceding an early try, Town bounced back to take the lead and things seemed to be going well.

Then the wheels came off rather spectacularly and the mountain to climb thereafter was just too much.

Scott Leatherbarrow was the first scorer, in just the third minute.

He darted over from acting half-back, but the Broncos position had been made easier when Workington were penalised for lifting in the tackle when the last play had been signalled.

London responded by conceding a penalty which led to Town tying up the game.

Brett Carter, who had picked up a bang on his left shoulder inside 30 seconds, had stayed on the field and he was perfectly placed to take Jarrod Sammut’s tipped pass and touch down.

Sammut added the conversion then, at the end of the next possession, pinned Elliot Kear in the corner with an astute kick.

The Welsh winger was forced into touch 12 metres from his own line and Town profited when an inside pass from Jamie Doran gave Jack Murphy the chance to celebrate his 100th professional match with a try, again improved by Sammut.

But that is when it all went wrong for Town.

They were penalised on the second tackle of their next defensive set and then were slow to react as playmaker Api Pewhairangi danced through three tackles to score beside the posts.

Three minutes later, Pewhairangi was at it again, this time with a run and pass to Iliess Macani, who sent Alex Foster over for a third London try.

There were 19 minutes on the clock and the score was already 16–12 to London, Pewhairangi having missed the last conversion.

When Town conceded back-to-back penalties, London found themselves knocking on the door again.

Andy Ackers, at dummy half threw a pair of dummies, which wrong-footed the two markers in front of him, so he dived through the gap they had created to score.

Workington got a break when Leatherbarrow knocked on at the restart, but Town failed to take advantage, with Declan Hulme knocking on on the just the second tackle.

London needed no second invitation and, after the forwards had made great yardage, Kear burst into a gap and dragged two tacklers over the line.

Substitute hooker James Cunningham should have extended the Broncos lead, but he knocked on as he went over the line from dummy half. But it delayed the inevitable by only 90 seconds as a Workington mistake gave London the ball back and Mark Ioane scored from close range.

A seventh first-half try for London was denied with a few second remaining in the period, the pass to Matt Garside being ruled forward.

And Garside made the first mistake of the second half, too, knocking on 12 metres from the Town line with only one tackle used up.

Murphy then produced a copy-book one-on-one tackle to stop Cunningham as he burst towards the line after a 30-metre break.

With the Town defence sucking in air as they got back to the line, Leatherbarrow should have set up either Ben Hellewell or Rhys Williams, but elected to go himself and was dragged down inches short of the line. From the play-the-ball, Hellewell through a no-look pass out and it was intercepted by Town to set up their next attack.

Aided by a penalty they moved into scoring position and Matty Gee scored his first Workington try when he crossed after a short a run.

Sammut failed to add the extras and then was guilty after knocking when a break by Murphy seemed to have given him a clear run to the line.

Compounding the mistake, Alex Szostak felt that Sammut had been tackled without the ball and him comments turned a London scrum into a London penalty – and six more points.

Once again, Kear timed his run into the line and there was no one to assist Carl Forber, who was brushed aside with great ease as Kear went on to score.

Foster showed his great potential by setting up London’s eighth try in the 50th minute. His break ripped open the Town defence and Cunningham finished off.

Both teams scrum halves then went down injured in the same play.

Pewhairangi hurt himself trying to offload, and then Sammut, Town having regained possession. got a bang on his lower leg.

The Town man soldiered on, but London took no chances with Pewhairangi and the Broncos looked a shadow of themselves thereafter.

Cunningham and Hellewell did combine to send Williams over for his regular score and Leatherbarrow missed from close range, but London had 50 points.

That was their last score as the final minutes showed great resilience from Town.

First a great offload by Liam McAvoy invited Sammut to show his try-scoring prowess, and he touched down behind the uprights.

With four minutes remaining, a kick from Forber bounced off a Broncos player and quickest to react was Oliver Gordon, who scored his first Town try.

The game was lost by this stage, but the two late scores certainly showed the fighting spirit in the Town team as they look forward to matches against Bradford and Leigh in the next couple of rounds.

Workington Town: Murphy, Forrester, Hulme, Mossop, B. Carter, Doran, Sammut, T. Walker, C. Phillips, Gordon, McAvoy, Gee, Mattinson. Subs: Forber, Ritson, Szostak, Verlinden.

Tries: Carter, Murphy, Gee, Sammut, Gordon; Goals: Sammut 4/5

London: Kear, Macani, Foster, Hellewell, Williams, Pewhairangi, Leatherbarrow, Slyney, Ackers, Offerdahl, Harrison, Garside, Bussey. Subs: Battye, Cunningham, Ioane, Magrin

Tries: Leatherbarrow, Pewhairangi, Foster, Ackers, Kear 2, Ioane, Cunningham, Williams; Goals: Pewhairaing 6/8; Leatherbarrow 0/1

Referee: Andy Bentham