Danny Ward: We represented Championship well
London coach Danny Ward said his side showed that the Championship is closing the gap on Super League following their win at Widnes.
A last-minute drop-goal from Jarrod Sammut sealed an emphatic 21-20 win for the Broncos over the Vikings at the Halton Stadium on Thursday.
London finished second in the Championship table after the regular season and are now unbeaten in their last eight games.
Ward said he thought London put up a good showing for the Championship teams competing in the Qualifiers.
He said: “I am buzzing with that because we spoke about holding our nerve and we did that.
“I just said to the boys at half-time to keep believing in the gameplan and keep believing in each other. We aren’t going to beat Super League sides in the first 20 or 40 minutes, you have got to go set for set with them and grind them out. We will have to deal with adversity but we have got to keep going and the players did that. They ran hard and defended for their lives.
“It has been the best Championship year that I can remember. There have been six teams fighting to get in the top four and it has been so tight, and that just shows the quality that is in the lower leagues.
“There are some very good players in the Championship and we put a very good showing of us and I think we represented the Championship well.”
Ward said he was impressed with every single one of his players in their win at Widnes.
He added: “One to 17 were outstanding.
“It is very hard to pick one standout from that. Our middles were fantastic, Ben Evans and Eddie Battye started the game really well and Cunno [James Cunningham] and Eloi [Pelissier] did big jobs at nine.
“Dan Hindmarsh is only a young kid but he started in the back-row and shifted into the middle. He played around 70 minutes so it was a massive effort from him.
“We just wanted to start our campaign off with a win and we have done that. We will enjoy the win but it is straight back to work for us because we have got another big game next week in Leeds Rhinos. We need to fix up a few things to make sure we are at our best.”
London will welcome current Super League champions Leeds Rhinos to the Ealing Trailfinders Sports Club in the second round of the Qualifiers on Sunday, August 19.