London Broncos 24 Hull FC 28: Patience pays off as Griffin double sees Hull power to victory

Tries from Elliot Kear and Eloi Pelissier were all London had to show for their first-half efforts, and the fact Hull remained in touch at 14-10 – through Griffin’s brace – was always going to be telling.

Carlos Tuimavave went over after the re-start, with the Broncos defence caught cold, before Jordan Thompson squeezed over in the corner after Hull stand-off Albert Kelly, who was outstanding with ball in hand, spotted a numerical advantage on his blindside.

Kelly added the fourth after picking up a speculative pass deep in his own half and then ghosting home from 60 metres, before Bureto Faraimo strengthened the visitors’ position with 15 minutes to play, picking up the pieces from Scott Taylor’s rampaging run right into the heart of a back-pedalling black-shirted defence.

However, the capital side have won plenty of admirers for a fervent commitment to the cause, and Alex Walker’s beautifully balanced running finally got him just reward, opening up some space to send over stand-off, Jordan Abdull.

When top scorer Williams tore down the left-hand touchline with five minutes still to play and score under the sticks, it seemed the Broncos would have the final say on proceedings. But for Matty Fozard’s fumble with the line at his mercy, the outcome might have been very different.

“We got challenged like we knew we would do to, and it’s pleasing to come out the other end with a win,” Hull coach Lee Radford said.

“They (Broncos) will come at you for 80 minutes, and you can’t be impatient because they’ll hurt you, and neither can you try and cheat them out of points, because they’ll just keep coming at you.

“The big thing for us at half-time was the need to start challenging them up the middle, because their line speed was excellent.”

London Broncos: Walker, Dixon, Morgan, Kear, Williams, Abdull, Smith, Battye, Pelissier, Butler, Pitts, Yates, Davies. Substitutes: Richards, Lovell, Fozard, Mason.

Hull: Shaul, Naulago, Tuimavave, Griffin, Faraimo, Kelly, Sneyd, Paea, Houghton, Matongo, Hadley, S. Manu, Ellis. Substitutes: Lane, Litten, Taylor, Thompson.

Referee: Scott Mikalauskas (RFL)