Dons suffer play-off setback as London Broncos prove too strong

Doncaster RLFC’s hopes of celebrating their 75th anniversary season by winning the Betfred Championship title suffered a reality check in Sunday’s qualifying play-off final at the Cherry Red Records Stadium.

London Broncos underlined just why they are the red-hot favourites to add the Betfred Championship title to the League Leaders’ shield and 1895 Trophy they already hold, when posting an emphatic 42-6 victory over the Dons.

The defeat doesn’t spell the end of the club’s hopes – they will entertain Barrow in a sudden-death eliminator this weekend.

But given the fact that the Broncos have previously posted two other big home wins over Richard Horne’s men (50-20 in the 1895 Cup) and 68-18 (league) the Dons would need to produce a massive reverse in fortunes were they to meet again in the competition.

The Dons, who went into the game on the back of nine successive wins, set off for the capital the previous day in order to give themselves the best possible chance of upsetting the odds.

Although several players were carrying knocks, they went into the game with a virtually full-strength squad and with the knowledge that they had come within six minutes of beating Broncos in their league game at the Eco-Power Stadium back in April.

Things didn’t start well for the Dons who lost prop Brad Knowles with a jaw injury in the opening minutes which served to affect their forward rotation.

Brandon Webster-Mansfield bombed an early chance for Broncos when losing the ball over the line but he made up for it on 18 minutes when providing the pass for lanky winger Neil Tchamambe to round off a free-flowing move when diving over in the corner for his 29th try of the season.

The Dons mounted a spirited response without being able to turn pressure into points – notably when a long run by Luis Johnson ended without reward - and were made to pay when pacy PNG half-back Gairo Voro spotted a gap to claim his 29th try of the season.

Voro then helped Tchamambe take his season’s tally to 30 when bagging his second to give his side a 14-0 lead. Good work by full-back Tom Holmes saw centre Watson Boas throw the Dons a lifeline on the stroke of half-time when scoring what turned out to be a consolation try.

At 14-6 the Dons were very much in the game at the start of the second half and remained in contention for most of the third quarter during which time winger Edene Gebbie was bundled into touch five metres out after Robinson had picked him out with a long pass.

But once Connor O’Beirne had reached out of the tackle to claim Broncos’ fourth try to make it 20-6 the Dons always looked to be fighting a lost cause.

They certainly were after the full-time Broncos, who have made a habit of doing so this season, scored a further three well-taken tries in quick succession. The best of which was a 60m run by Luke Smith who showed good pace after bursting through several defenders in his own half.

The Dons managed to stem the flow prior to conceding again through a close-range try by Epel Kapinias five minutes from time. Holmes was sin-binned shortly after for a high tackle on the impressive Voro.

Sunday will see the Cumbrians, who bounced back from a 72-0 drubbing by the Dons to put paid to Sheffield Eagles’ hopes at the weekend, travel down to the Club Doncaster Sports Village for the second time in as many weeks. Neither camp will be expecting a similar scoreline to that day on a ground where the Cumbrians won 36-12 in the league in late May.

Dons: Holmes, Faraimo, Lyne, Boas, Gebbie, Aston, Robinson, Knowles, C. Jones, Matagi, Sutcliffe, Johnson, J. Jones. Subs: Mustapha, Misky, Hepi, Whitehead.