LONDON BRONCOS 2018 SHIRTS |
LAST TIME OUT
Head Coach: Danny Ward
After three years as head coach at London Broncos, Andrew
Henderson has now moved on to become the assistant coach at Warrington Wolves
and this year London Broncos appointed Danny Ward as their head coach.
He had been working as assistant since 2015 and before that he spent two years
coaching the Broncos U19 team. This is his first head coach position. In his
playing career he was a prop forward and made his début at Leeds Rhinos in 1999. He stayed at the Rhinos until
joining Castleford for one season in 2006. That was followed by one year at
Hull Kingston Rovers before moving to London Broncos (then Harlequins RL) in 2008.
He retired in 2011. In 2004 he made one substitute for Great Britain against
New Zealand in that year’s Tri-Nations competition.
Captain: Jay Pitts
Born in Ossett, Jay
Pitts started his career with Wakefield, making his début in 2008. In July of the following year he was signed by
Leeds. In March 2012 he moved on to Hull FC. Then, in 2014, he had loan spells
at Doncaster and Bradford Bulls before signing for the Bulls before the 2015
season. Last year he joined London Broncos and played in every one of their 31
matches. He plays at either loose forward or second row.
At the back
Playing either on the wing or
fullback, Kieran Dixon is a speedy
try scorer well capable of scoring long range tries. He is also a competent
goal kicker who can take over from Jarrod Sammut when required. Dixon played
for the England Knights team in 2012 and 2013. His professional career began
with the Broncos in 2012. In 2015 he was signed by Hull KR but returned to the
Broncos in 2017. In 2014 he played for Hemel Stags on dual reg and played for
Newcastle Thunder (also on dual reg) in 2016. Dixon is Broncos leading try
scorer this season. Elliot Kear plays in the
three-quarters or at fullback. He has played 20 times for Wales and is a
genuine Welsh International having been born in Cardiff. He started with
Crusaders and played in Super League for them and for Bradford Bulls. Usually
at fullback is Alex Walker who has been attracting a lot of attention for his
excellent performances. He made his Broncos début in 2014. He has had dual
reg spells with London Skolars and Hemel Stags and played for Scotland in 2015.
Rhys Williams is another genuine
Welshman but this time hailing from North Wales. He has 23 caps for his country
and scored a hat trick against Scotland in 2010. He began his career with
Warrington and also played for Castleford, Salford and Swinton before joining
the Broncos in 2015.
In the halves
Youngster, James Meadows,
is in his first year having made his début in February he has
already played 11 matches for the Broncos mostly at stand off and has also
played for one game for London Skolars on dual reg. New Zealander, Ape Pewhairangi, is an Irish
international! He has played at both stand off and centre this year. Before
joining London he had been with Newcastle Knights, Parramatta Eels and New
Zealand Warriors. Jarrod Sammut, is
an Australian and a Maltese international. He is London’s main goal kicker and
was also their leading try scorer last year when he scored 268 points. He
usually plays at scrum-half but has also played at hooker. He spent 2015 and
2016 with Workington. He originally came to the UK to play for Crusaders RL and
has also been in the squads at Bradford Bulls and Wakefield (from where he played
1 game for Fev on dual Reg).
At hooker
James Cunningham began the season as the regular starting hooker but recently he has
also been playing at scrum-half. His career began at Hull FC in 2012. In 2014
he had a loan spell with the Broncos and in 2015 he played for Doncaster on
dual reg before being signed by the Broncos in June. Newly signed from Lézignan a couple of weeks ago is Frenchman Eloi
Pelissier. He is a highly rated French international who played for
Catalans from 2011 to 2016 and for Leigh Centurions last year.
In the pack
Eddie Battye is one of
those prop forwards who never takes a backward step. His career began at
Sheffield in 2008 and he signed for Broncos in 2016. He has also played for
French club Villeneuve Leopards. Matt
Davis usually plays at loose forward but can also play hooker. He started
with Broncos in 2015 and played a few games for Hemel on dual reg in 2016 and
with London Skolars last year. (Not to be
confused with … see below). Mark
Ioane is a rumbustious prop forward. He is a New Zealander and has played
in the NRL for both Gold Coast Titans and Saint George Illawarra Dragons. He
joined the Broncos in 2016. In 2010 he played for the Junior Kiwis and was a
member of the New Zealand Warriors team that won the Toyota Cup Grand Final. Yet
to make his début is Prop Forward Daymeric Pelo who was signed from Limoux on July 11th. Tom Spencer is another prop forward
who has started most matches this year. His career started with Wigan in 2012
and had loan or dual reg spells with South Wales and Leigh before signing for
Leigh in 2014 and went on loan to Oldham in 2016. He joined the Broncos in
2017.
Dual Registration
London Broncos have a dual
registration agreement with London Skolars that involves their younger players
getting game time with the Skolars but does not usually lead to Skolars players
turning out for the Broncos.
The Fev connection
There are three members of the London Broncos squad who have
previously played for Fev. Welsh international, Michael Channing, was at Rovers in 2016. Scottish international, Ben Hellewell, came to Rovers for two
seasons from the Warrington Academy in 2013. Both Michael and Ben played in
last year’s World Cup. Jarrod Sammut (see above) played just one game for Fev on dual registration from Wakefield in 2014.
During that match against North Wales he kicked 10 goals out of 10 attempts!
There are also four players who have appeared for Rovers this
year and who have played for London Broncos. Brad Dwyer played for them on loan from Warrington in 2015. Richard Moore was with them in 2002 and
2004, Scott Wheeldon in 2012 and
2013 and Jason Walton in 2015.
Name Confusion!
On
the playing roster at the Broncos are both Matt
Davis and Sam Davis. But matters
are even more confusing because there is also Matt Davies! As both Matt Davis and Matt Davies sometimes play
in the second row it brings back memories of when Fev fielded second rowers
both called Gary Price in the same match!
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