Rugby league: Smith double breaks down the Broncos
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Wigan Warriors 22 London Broncos 4
WIGAN COULD draw some satisfaction from succeeding where St Helens had failed three days earlier, beating a stubborn and determined London with a solid display.
Two tries from Tony Smith at Central Park last night pointed the way as Wigan consolidated their top-five place and while it was not the most spectacular of performances, there were enough encouraging contributions to suggest that they are finding their feet under the new coach, Andy Goodway.
It took most of a tight first half to wear down a sound London Broncos defence. When the breakthrough came, it was predictable that it should involve a penalty conceded by trying to slow the game down. Steele Retchless was the guilty man and Andy Farrell, who had missed one early chance, put this one over.
London put themselves under further pressure through Robbie Beazley's forward pass and although Lee Gilmour could not get the ball down when he crossed the line, the subsequent scrum saw Smith dart over, via a painful collision with the post, for the game's first try. The conversion by Farrell gave Wigan what was, in such a constricted game, a handy half- time lead.
After a bright start to the second half, the Broncos were hit by Wigan's best move of the game - Greg Fleming and Gary Connolly moving the ball to Jason Robinson, who showed great presence of mind in turning it back inside to give Smith his second score.
The tide seemed to be running irretrievably against London when they had Giles Thomas, standing in at scrum-half for Shaun Edwards, sent to the sin bin for tackling Greg Florimo without the ball.
The Broncos showed the new spirit they have discovered under the coaching of Les Kiss by scoring one try in his absence through Tulsen Tollett and almost claiming another when Fleming's dash was only halted by the excellent Kris Radlinski. Although they were very far from being disgraced, any lingering hope of a London victory disappeared when Beazley knocked on and, from the scrum, Gary Moore's run and off-load gave Radlinski a richly deserved try.
Five minutes from time, and with the London defence still working tenaciously, Fleming's fumble from a kick gave Wigan possession and Farrell's long pass sent in Robinson.
Wigan Warriors: Radlinski; Robinson, Moore, Connolly, Davies; Florimo, T Smith; Cowie, Cassidy, Mestrov, Gilmour, Betts, Farrell. Substitutes used: Goldspink, Haughton, Chester, M Smith.
London Broncos: Fleming; Peters, Ryan, Timu, Tollett; Hammond, Thomas; Cram, Beazley, Seibold, Retchless, Wynyard, Gill. Substitutes used: Spencer, Salter, Callaway, Sykes.
Referee: R Smith (Castleford).
n Wigan hope to find out today whether the Brisbane and Australia centre Steve Renouf is interested in joining them for next season.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments