Cunningham blocks Broncos charge

London 12 St Helens 26

Two late tries from Ade Gardner ended London's hopes of a remarkable fightback against Saints at Griffin Park. Trailing 18-0 after an error-ridden first-half, the Broncos finally learned how to hang on to the ball after the interval and had Saints under pressure at 18-12.

But then Gardner rose to claim Sean Long's cross-kick to the corner and score his first. The game was finally in the bag when the excellent Kieron Cunningham figured twice in a handling move that sent the Cumbrian wing-man over again, and what crisis there had been was over.

London were their own worst enemies in the first half, continually turning over possession whenever they came close to threatening Saints' line. There is generally a price to be paid for that sort of error against Saints, and it was a duly extracted after 10 minutes when Jason Hooper and Paul Wellens opened the left-hand side for the Samoan World Cup player Dominic Feaunati to go over in the corner. There was a hint of a forward pass about it, but the try stood.

The Broncos were punished again midway through the half when Long put through a kick which took a wicked bounce completely to bamboozle the London full-back, Paul Sykes. Cunningham timed his run perfectly from just onside to touch down, and Long's second goal made it a comfortable 12-point lead.

London were defending heroically, as they had to given their attacking fallibility, but they were breached again as half-time approached. Choosing to run rather than kick a penalty, Saints vindicated the decision when Micky Higham got away from dummy-half and slipped a short ball to send Jon Wilkins over. Long added a third goal and should have had a further Saints try if he had held on to the ball immediately before the break.

In the second half London's handling blunders disappeared and they soon got their reward, Neil Budworth and Jim Dymock combining crisply to send Sykes over.

Sykes added the conversion and a penalty soon afterwards, and when the Broncos again showed incisive attack-ing instincts for Rob Jackson to send Nigel Roy over in the corner, a complete reversal of fortunes looked possible.

But then the referee, Richard Silverwood, allowed play to go on when Saints' Chris Joynt lost the ball in the tackle, and Gardner's late contribution made sure of the points.

London Broncos: Sykes; Wells, Jackson, O'Halloran, Roy; Bowker, Moran; Trindall, Budworth, Retchless, Mbu, Hart, Dymock. Substitutes: Stephenson, Brocklehurst, Stringer, Sanderson.

St Helens: Wellens; Gardner, Talau, Albert, Feaunati; Hooper, Higham; Fozzard, Cunningham, Mason, Joynt, Gilmour, Sculthorpe. Substitutes: Edmondson, Wilkin, Graham, Hardman.

Refereee: R Silverwood (Mirfield).