Lew on League (An occasional RL blog by my dad)

London Broncos 32 24 Leeds Rhinos (played at Perpignon, France)

Leeds swept into a quick lead and by half time were leading by 20 points to 8. They held plenty of possession and made good use of it by swift handling. Indeed, after 15 minutes of the second half they were leading by 24 points to 8 and the travelling Leeds supporters were doing a conga around the stadium. The lack of frequency of Leeds congas in the north of England scene suggests that they had discovered the joys of the local vin de pays d’oc.

However, the hangovers soon started as London at last kicked into gear. Perhaps Leeds became overconfident, or possibly the heat proved too enervating. Whatever, suddenly the brilliant bronco half backs Dorn and Leuluai took control of the match and Leeds on the back foot seemed unable to recover their defensive match plan. London began scoring but without Sinfield’s controlling cool they seemed unable to counter-attack. In the space of 20 minutes the game had turned around with London scoring an unanswered 24 points.

St Helens maintained their bright form by beating Hull and so are only one point behind Leeds in the league. Other results saw Wigan beat Warrington and Wakefield beat Bradford. On present form it looks like St. Helens to win the league with Leeds close behind and the others trailing behind those two. St Helens are definitely better than Leeds. The one bright speck on the horizon is that Matt Diskin came off the bench and had no problems in starting his run to full fitness. Leeds are going to need both Diskin and Sinfield if they are to retain the championship.