Sinfield wards off charging Broncos
Leeds 21 London 1
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Your support makes all the difference.Kevin Sinfield, the youngest captain in Super League, steered Leeds into the quarter-finals of the Powergen Challenge Cup after being chased all the way by the Broncos.
The Rhinos were far from convincing, but a try and a drop goal from the cool Sinfield were enough to tilt the tie their way in the second half at Headingley.
A London side worryingly short of too many of its key players nearly conceded a try inside two minutes, when Keith Senior was denied by the video referee for a double movement. After that, the Broncos coped well with what Leeds had to offer, aided by the Rhinos' propensity for conceding penalties. The fifth in a row gave Tony Martin a kickable chance, which he took to put London in the lead.
With Jim Dymock's clever handling setting the tone, the Broncos continued to more than hold their own and deservedly extended their lead after 25 minutes when Chris Thorman kicked through with just the right weight and angle and their new Australia, Bill Peden, managed to collect and touch down as he slid into the in-goal.
Leeds needed to produce something special and they did so five minutes later, when Andrew Dunemann slipped out of a couple of tackles to feed Senior who exchanged passes with the alert Francis Cummins on the wing before touching down, David Furner's goal levelling the scores.
That gave Leeds a new confidence and, shortly before the break, they took the lead for the first time. Wayne McDonald's charging run brought a penalty for an obstruction on a support runner and Leeds moved the ball across field for Mark Calderwood to slide over from Chev Walker's pass and be awarded the try on video scrutiny, Ferner again adding the goal.
If Leeds thought they had broken the opposition they were disabused at the start of the second half, the Broncos' Cumbrian stand-off, Rob Purdham, doing superbly to get his pass out of the tackle for Dymock to score and Martin to equalise with his kick.
Leeds' response was another of the game's moments of class, Sinfield balancing Matt Diskin's little kick on his fingertips as he went over. Furner could not get his kicks on target in the first Super League match of the season last weekend, but here his conversion made it three out of three.
London still had their chances, notably when Purdham had his pass picked off by Cummins as the Leeds defence creaked when Gary Connolly appeared to trip Thorman. Having survived that, Leeds stretched their lead to seven with a composed drop goal from Sinfield and Furner's fourth goal from a late penalty made their progress look more assured than it was.
Leeds: Connolly; Calderwood, McKenna, Senior, Cummins; Dunemann, Burrow; McDonald, Diskin, Bailey, Furner, Adamson, Sinfield. Substitutes used: McGuire, Ward, McDermott, Walker.
London: Roy; Hall, Martin, Jackson, Haughey; Purdham, Thorman; Stephenson, Budworth, Marshall, Peden, Retchless, Dymock. Substitutes used: Toshack, Bawden, Johnson, Hamilton.
Referee: S Ganson (St Helens).
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