Super League: St Helens cruise to win against London Broncos
Francis Meli ran in two of St Helens' seven tries as the hosts thrashed London Broncos 38-10 at Langtree Park.
Last Updated: 10/08/13 12:13am
Saints were in control from start to finish and the Broncos, who were without a number of key players due to injury, offered little by way of a reply.
London started brightly enough but undid their good work when Jamie Soward threw an interception pass to Willie Manu and Saints quickly spread the ball from right to left, with Meli sending in Adam Swift for the opener.
The extras were tagged on by Jonny Lomax and he should have been kicking another conversion minutes later but Josh Jones failed to carry the ball with the line at his mercy.
London regrouped slightly, absorbing a couple of decent St Helens attacks, but it did not last for long as stand-off Jon Wilkin sent Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook through to the line with a superb short ball.
Saints continued to pile on the pressure and Paul Wellens, on for Saints in search of his 1000th career point, sparked a move which eventually led to Meli powering over out wide.
Character
The Broncos showed plenty of character and resilience in the first period and were not completely out of it with only a couple of tries to make up.
But they made life hard for themselves in the closing minutes of the half as some slack defending put the home side in again, this time through Tommy Makinson.
The pressure did not let up for London after the restart as Wellens created a try for Anthony Walker from the play-the-ball.
At 28-0 the game was well over as a contest, and the out-of-sorts Soward was then sent to the sin-bin after interfering in the ruck after Alex Walmsley's tremendous burst.
Saints converted that pressure to points as Lomax went over from Wellens' stab through, although the Broncos did get one back though through centre Daniel Sarginson.
There was one more try for the Broncos, from centre Iliess Macani, and it was probably deserved as the rookie three-quarter worked hard against some tough opposition backs. But Meli touched down in the last minute to give the Saints the last word.