Broncos no match for slick Davies

Rugby League

Rugby League

DAVE HADFIELD

Warrington 46 London Broncos 6

Jonathan Davies might have struggled in a losing side during his Australian summer, but he came home in deadly form to show the London Broncos just how much they will have to improve to compete in the Stones Centenary Championship and the Super League beyond it.

In conditions reminiscent of those he left at the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville last week, Davies scored two tries, created another two for the debutant Andy Currier and kicked seven goals from eight attempts for a personal tally of 22 points.

"I'm treating this and the Super League as one season and it could well be my last," Davies said. "I want to finish on a high note." He certainly began the marathon double season on a high note, his combination with Currier in particular proving too much for the Broncos' defence.

"We started slowly but had too much pace for them out wide," Davies said. "After last year, my main aim is to get my attacking play back."

Davies' inside passes sent his former Widnes team-mate striding through twice in the first half and the same move also produced a try for Iestyn Harris.

London were in the game for the first 35 minutes, with their tireless scrum-half Kevin Langer, the elder brother of the Australian Test half- back, Allan, equalising after Currier's first try.

However when their winger, David Evans, was sent to the sin bin for holding down Kelly Shelford, the Broncos fell apart, conceding three converted tries in the 10 minutes that they were a man short.

"That was the big turn-around and it really was our undoing," Gary Grienke, the Broncos coach, said.

Even when Evans returned, there was no way back for a side that had conceded too much ground in his absence.

Mark Forster completed a hat-trick for Warrington and although London had plenty of possession when the pace of the game slowed in the last 20 minutes of a sweltering afternoon, they could make no impression on a home side that looked fit and ready for the rigours of the long haul ahead.

A London squad already featuring 11 Australians and two New Zealanders will be further reinforced by Antipodean recruits this Autumn, so it is too early to write them off as an irrelevance.

"But we have got to gain some credibility during this season," Grienke said. "And we gained none out there today, no matter what anyone might say."

Warrington: Harris; Forster, Roper, Davies, Currier; Shelford (Penny, h-t), Mackey; Hilton (Sumner, 51), Thursfield, Chambers (Jones, 28), McGuire (Sculthorpe, 34), Cullen, Wainwright.

London Broncos: Booth (Pitt, 44); Butt, Roskell, Vincent, Evans; Riley, Langer; Heugh (Bawden, 24; Carroll, 56), Stevens, Shaw, Rosolen, Bryant (Why, 66) Hogg.

Referee: C Morris (Huddersfield).