London Broncos suffered terrible injury luck in their Challenge Cup loss to Bradford Bulls with head coach Jason Demetriou revealing one player has headed to hospital after the match.
Despite leading 8-4 at half-time, London eventually lost 26-8 but a large part of that came down to the fact that they were without any interchanges after just half an hour and then went down to twelve for the final 30 minutes, all due to injury.
Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Dean Hawkins were just two of those players that London lost to injury but speaking post-match to the BBC, Demetriou revealed that centre Alex Max had been taken to hospital on account of his injury.
“The biggest concern at the moment is Alex Max who has just been taken to hospital so we need to get a check on him and see how he is,” he said, whilst also revealing how hard the injuries hit.
“We had no interchange after about 30 minutes. We lost four players in the first half, your starting front row, your captain, your half-back, your back-rower and then we lose another one just after half time to go down to 12 men.”
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“Never seen anything like it” – London Broncos boss shocked by injury luck
On playing a man down, Demetriou said: “I think we played for 30 minutes with 12 men but I’m just so impressed and proud of our effort and the way we fought hard. From 16-8 there were a couple of chances where we could have gone to 16-14 but a lot of credit to Bradford, they did well to get their win.
“It’s tough enough losing one player, let alone losing five with four in the first half. I’ve never seen anything like it to be honest but that happens sometimes.
“I’m just proud of the way the guys adapted and found a way to keep turning up. Some of our efforts to turn Bradford away with 12 men was impressive. We’ll get a hell of a lot out of that game and as I said to the players, if that’s in our DNA then we’re heading in the right direction.”
As for how this will impact his side going forward, Demetriou welcomed the bye week that the Broncos have but he also underlined how much he has learnt about his side.
He said: “We’ve got good depth in our squad, there are players who will come in and do their job but we’ve got a week off next week so that will come at the right time.
“I had the feeling that they were a tight group but what they’ve produced today shows just how tight they are. They were filthy after the game, absolutely filthy that they didn’t get the win and that’s a good mindset to have.”
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