A tough day at the office for The Bulldogs who came up against a fast and powerful London Broncos outfit.
The opening stages were even until the hosts opened the scoring on 10 muntes through Kieran Dixon, the first of four tries in the game for the winger.
Shaun Ainscough was forced to leave the game with an ankle injury with less than 15 minutes played, Dave Scott moving to the wing and Izaac Farrell coming on to make his Batley debut at Full Back.
The visitors then had a good spell of possession and picked up a deserved try though James Brown. London finished the half strongly though and led 36-6 at the break.
The game was more even in the second half and James brown registered his second for the Bulldogs with a strong angled run. At 44-12 the visitors were competing well and having the better of the play. Alex Rowe looked to have scored but the ball was ruled to have been stolen before grounding and a penalty given to Batley. Wayne Reittie then appeared to ground a kick from Walker but again the score was disallowed. The frustration was evident and Brambani saw red for his protests.
With a man short the task became almost impossible and the pace of the Broncos proved too much for a tiring Batley side, running in a further four tries to complete a convincing victory.
A result which can’t be argued with but the scoreline doesn’t quite tell the full story of the game with The Bulldogs at times more than matching their hosts. Ultimately though the Broncos were a formidable opponent and it’s difficult to see any Championship side leaving the Trailfinders Stadium with a win.
Broncos 68-12 Bulldogs
London Xlll – Alex Walker, Kieran Dixon, Ben Helliwell, Matt Fleming, Rhys Williams, Api Pewhairangi, Jarrod Sammut, Tom Spencer, James Cunningham, Mark Loane, Jay Pitts, Will Lovell and Matt Davis.
Interchanges – Matt Gee, Rob Butler and Sadiq Adebiyi, Sam Davies
Batley Xlll – David Scott, Wayne Reittie, Jason Crookes, Lewis Galbraith, Shaun Ainscough, Thomas Hemmingway, Dominic Brambani, Bradley Day, James Davey, Alex Rowe, James Harrison, Joel Farrell and Patrick Walker.
Interchanges – Izaac Farrell. Tom Holland, Joseph Chandler and James Brown.
London Broncos 68-12 Batley Bulldogs.