Demoralised Broncos humiliated by Sheffield

London Broncos produced their worst performance of the season when they suffered a humiliating 58-16 defeat at home to Sheffield Eagles in the Stones Premiership quarter-finals yesterday.

Sheffield for their part were magnificent, handling the ball superbly, tackling anything that moved and killing the Broncos with pace and fine passing, especially on the flanks.

There was a hint of what was to come in just the second minute when Keith Senior touched down in the corner. The try had come about because Martin Offiah was pushed 10 metres into his in-goal area to force a London drop- out between the posts. Rod Doyle went over after hooker Johnny Lawless made a fine break from dummy half, Aston then kicked a goal after the Broncos were caught off-side and when London did score, Shaun Edwards injured his knee touching down. He limped off five minutes later and Broncos went from bad to worse.

Mark Aston, clearly the man of the match, kicked 11 goals. He faced three different scrum-halves: Edwards until he was injured, Beazley until he was sent off in the 78th minute for punching and Terry Matterson for the final few moments. London were completely demoralised and their discipline had disappeared long before Beazley was shown the red card.