REPORT | London Broncos 52 Dons 20 (AB Sundecks 1895 Cup quarter-final)

The Dons were knocked out at the hands of London Broncos in the quarter-finals of the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup at the Richmond Athletic Ground.

Watson Boas marked the scoresheet for Richard Horne's men in the first half in the capital, but the visitors were made to pay for too many errors and trailed by 22 points at the interval.

James Glover, Isaac Misky and Mitieli Vulikijapani all contributed second half tries, but it wasn't to be enough to match the Broncos on the afternoon.
Horne made three changes to the side that lost out at Oldham RLFC over a week earlier in the Betfred Championship, with Sam Smeaton, Glover and Gadwin Springer all handed spots inside the starting XIII.
London opened the scoring after just 57 seconds. Luke Smith was handed the ball after the hosts went two on one, and he scored the easiest of tries to the right. Jimmy Meadows added the extras.
The Dons took their time to grow into the game, but they eventually responded on 17 minutes. Boas broke through the middle and rolled his man to ground just to the right of the posts. Cory Aston added the extras to level the scores.
But parity wouldn't remain for long as London edged back ahead four minutes later. The Broncos went for the right-hand corner on the last and found Neil Tchamambe, who went over. Meadows converted.
Horne's side fumbled the first pass after being awarded a penalty within ten metres at the other end shortly after, and the home side capitalised to score again after 26 minutes. Morea Morea raced through the middle and scored underneath the uprights. Meadows again added the extras. 18-6.
The London barrage continued then until half time. Interchange Ben Hursey-Hord and Gairo Voro both scored on 35 and 40 minutes, respectively, but Meadows could only convert the first of the two tries to leave a half time score of 28-6.
Matters got worse before they got better for the Dons after the break as Tchamambe completed a personal brace on the right wing for another four points.
Horne's men did form somewhat of a mini-comeback over the next ten minutes with three tries.
First Glover went alone on the left to score and reduce the arrears to 22 points after 53 minutes.
Misky then somehow found the space in the goal area to ground just to the right of the sticks four minutes on, and Aston converted.
Vulikijapani was next to trouble the scoreboard operator as the Dons went all the way to the right and left the winger to score in the corner. 32-20.
But London found their feet again after that. Sadiq Adebiyi and Luke Smith both went over on 61 and 66 minutes, respectively, and Meadows added the extras to the first of the two tries to add another 10 points to the difference in the scoreline.
Voro added another Broncos try a minute later. Meadows converted. 48-20.
Tchamambe added his third score of the day seven minutes from time to complete his hat-trick on the right wing and make the score 52-20.
And that is how it was to end as the Dons bowed out of the 2026 instalment of the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup with defeat in the capital.
Dons: Holmes, Vulikijapani, Smeaton, Glover, Gebbie, Boas, Aston, Gwaze, C. Jones, Springer, J. Jones, Johnson, Mustapha. Interchanges: Baldwinson, Pauli, Misky, Hepi.