It was a tough trip to the capital for the Barrow Raiders who were defeated 30-16 by London Broncos in the Betfred Championship on Saturday.

The Raiders would open the scoring eleven minutes in after Luke Broadbent finished off a deft kick-through in the corner, with Ryan Shaw converting to add the extra two points.

Despite their early lead, the majority of the next 30 minutes would be played within the Raiders’ half as the Broncos looked to grind their way back into the game.

Eventually, they would find their breakthrough, after a period of determined defence from the visitors, the pressure tolled and the Raiders found themselves short in numbers on the right side which allowed Ethan Natoli to go over after 25 minutes.

From then on, the Broncos piled on the pressure and earned their rewards with two back-to-back tries from Oli Leyland and Iliess Macani putting the scores at 16-6 as both sides left the field for half-time.

Like the first half, the Raiders enjoyed a lightning start when a cutout pass from Johnston found new loanee Keanan Brand who played in Ryan Shaw to crash over the line, but he was unable to convert his own try.

The visitors were hit with a blow 51 minutes in when Ryan Johnston was sent to the sin bin for pushing at the play of the ball.

The hosts pressed their one-man advantage just five minutes later when Leyland danced around three tackles ten metres to extend their lead to 12 points.

Even with the Raiders back to full strength following Johnston’s return to the field, the Broncos registered their fifth try of the match when Jarred Bassett forced his way through a gap in the defensive line to score from 20 metres out.

The Raiders would not go down without a fight and a solid period of pressure allowed Danny Langtree to power his way over for his fourth try of the season.

However, it would have taken a mammoth effort from the Raiders to overturn a 28-16 scoreline with less than ten minutes to go, and the game was all but over when the Broncos converted a penalty from 30 metres out to leave the visitors empty-handed.

Barrow Raiders’ will now look ahead to the 2023 Summer Bash where they will face Cumbrian rivals Whitehaven at the LNER Community Stadium on Saturday 27 May.

Tickets for the event can be bought here.

LONDON BRONCOS 30

Tries: Natoli, Leyland, Macani, Leyland, Bassett

Goals: Leyland 5

BARROW RAIDERS 16

Tries: Broadbent, Shaw, Langtree

Goals: Shaw 2

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