AN OLD-fashioned brawl ended London’s final regular season game, one player sent off and another sent to the sin bin in a 66-18 win.
Swinton prop Jordan Brown appeared to cop a finger in the eye as he made contact with London winger Will Jones at Richmond Athletic Ground in the 80th minute and began swinging punches.
Players rushed in and after the hostilities were initially suppressed, they renewed with Brown and Jones becoming embroiled after the second melee, too, had seemingly been contained.
Referee Adam Williams sent Brown off and then Jones pointed to the scoreboard as he was dispatched to the sin bin, rookie Tommy Porter scoring one final Broncos try.
Possible punches elsewhere in the incident could lead to further charges – a worry for the Broncos ahead of the play-offs.
Earlier, Papuan centre Alex Max compensated with a hat-trick for missing the 1895 Cup final.
Max, who is yet to make his Kumuls debut, was considered too big a risk last Monday against Widnes after a season interrupted by chest and knee injuries.
Broncos coach Jason Demetriou rested almost his entire 1895 Cup final team, bringing back Max, winger Liam Tindall and hooker Sam Davis from injury and handing out half a dozen debuts.
In brilliant sunshine in front of a crowd boosted by a free ticket offer, winger Liam Tindall scored the first of his two first-half tries after just three minutes.
Sadiq Adebiyi bullocked over next, Davis scored a ferocious hooker’s try bumping off three after that – before Swinton broke service.
A fortuitous ricochet helped Lions lock Trent Kelly-Duffy score behind the posts – he might have been in front of the kick – and Reece Briers converted.
Then came Tindall’s second try, from another garden variety overlap. Broncos winger Will Jones could be seen grinning as he roared down the left after that. The ball swung back to the right and Max crossed.
Big Sam Kibula crashed over between the posts for Swinton and then Marcus Stock iced the half by skirting back across the face of the ruck where he found a big enough gap to power through on the left.
After the break, Max raced 80 metres when Kibula juggled and lost the ball behind him and then completed his hat-trick off a Will Lovell offload a few minutes later.
Jones crossed 15 minutes into the second half, Gavin Rodden pegged one back for Swinton and then Stock bagged his second.
LONDON 66Â (Max 3 Tindall 2 Stock 2 Adebiyi Lenthall Davis Jones Porter tries Davidson 10 goals) beat SWINTON 18 (T Kelly-Duffy Kubula Rodden tries Briers 3 goals) at Richmond Athletic Ground.
Teams:
LONDON: Teddy Davidson; Teddy Jones, Henry Lenthall, Alex Max, Liam Tindall; Jack Croft, Jamie Hewson; Marcus Stock, Sam Davis, Ben Hursey-Hord, Will Lovell, Sadiq Adebiyi, Rob Oakley. Res: Tommy Porter, Fin Hay, Bobby Hartley, Jake Ramsden.
SWINTON: Jack Stevens; Ellis Anderson, Gav Rodden (c), Aaron Lynch, Patrick Ah Van; Reece Briers, Rhyley Hyde; Jordan Brown, Josh Eaves, Bobby Shingler, Charley McCurrie, Dylan Kelly-Duffy, Trent Kelly-Duffy. Res: Tom Ratchford, Mike Porter, Jamie Reddecliffe, Samy Kubula.
Referee: Adam Williams.
