We started well, with Sutcliffe directing some good plays and Watkins tearing them to bits down the right. Bailey, Achurch & Singleton all made good metres and Aiton controlled the game from the back of the ruck.

We let in two tries to give London a way back in, but scores either side of half time to take what should have been a commanding 30-8 lead with 30 minutes to go.

Completions then dropped away, and London got back into the game with each successive score giving them the belief thay they could break their duck.

Mac did make a tactical error, bringing Aiton off for Golding and moving Zak into the halves. Zak was less effective and Golding was dire at the back. Robbie Ward should have been in the squad to give Aiton a rest if necessary. If anything (contrary to popular opinion) Mac was *too* keen to give a kid his debut.

When we needed clutch we didn't have the leaders on the pitch to deliver it, with so much weight falling on Zak, Aiton & Sutty's shoulders. That said, we still created an opportunity which with a couple of inches difference would have been a game-winning try.

The same problem created issues during the game - with only Zak & Sutty kicking (neither of whom is an experienced kicker) we lacked the kicking game to turn good sets into continuous pressure and drive Broncos out of the game by half time.

This has made winning the LLS very difficult, though certainly very possible given Saint's run-in. That said I don't set much store by the LLS - I'd much rather win the GF & CC and finish 3rd than win the LLS and nowt else.

It's also informed next weekend. Of the players looking to put themselves in contention, Singleton, Bailey, Ward, Sutcliffe and Achurch all had good games. Walters was 110% effort but not as effective as could be. Clarkson & Kirke did very little to justify either their selection or indeed continued presence in the rhinos squad. Minchella was ineffective, Golding was utterly atrocious at full back. Given we have Zak there is no way he should be offered a contract for next year.

Bailey & Singleton claim the two bench prop spots for Wembley. Sutcliffe / Ward / Achurch I honestly couldn't call.

Just goes to show how w@nk the U19s is. Some of those lads are light years off SL level especially the backs.

They conceded 40 points and 32 of those points in the second half.oh dear

Said Golding was terrible when I saw him pre-season, doesn't sound like he did much to change that today.

Bit harsh on Goulding - who needs to sort out his scrum cap - but otherwise pretty spot. Thought the other kids making their debuts struggled immensely - perhaps an indicator that it isn't as easy as just chucking them in.

All those slagging the coach off wouldn't have done so at 30-8.

Couple of turning points from us - Walters being bundled in touch and Hall dropping a pass from a scrum 20 or so yards out. London then got on a roll, attacking the ruck and away they went. Our pack was pretty lightweight at one stage and they couldn't cope, nor could the defence who were had no idea what each other was doing.Still nearly won it with Kallum's run - he was running riot in the first half.

Felt pretty glum but, and it's a big but, I could face losing every other game this season as long as we win at Wembley

How is the opening post a sane view? He was posting not long after the game, clearly didn't go, based his views from the radio obviously, yet considers his view sane. Then says to write off a kid from 20 minutes of radio listening. Yes very sane,

As it happens a lot of the bits he put in their isn't wrong, but I guess as it was based on who's name the radio commentator mentioned, some clearly are.

Bailey, Sutcliffe, and Ward didn't have good games as he put, Infact they were distinctly average. They were just the same averageness as Kirke who was written off. Singleton had a good first half when on top, then missing when the going got tough. Clarkson IMO actually had a good game, and for me if there really was two bench spots open for Wembley, he might well have nicked it.

Of the youngsters, White was a bit of an enigma, looked promising at some moments, and way out of his depth the next. Handley was out of it most of game. Golding I said months ago couldn't tackle, but he showed up well looking for the ball when we had it. Walters didn't do enough to get Wembley spot, but was playing in a young team so might be unfair.

First half we played some good rugby, got on a role, and probably should have been further ahead. I expected to get beat when saw squad, so it was a pleasant surprise. Credit for that to that point should go to the coach.

It was however the coaches mistakes with subs that contributed to the final result. Taking Aiton off who was clearly our best player was stupid. But that said you would expect any team to defend such a lead we had.

The under 19's really haven't being developed well from what they were. But then again I always thought the next batch were better. But unfair to write off any without seeing them in a team around experienced players first.

The officials were awful in that second half, and That looked a try all the way at the end. The touch judge flag did not go up until the try was scored, and I doubt it would have done had the tackle being made.

Fyi I did go, I'm stopping in London tonight as I've got a flight tomorrow. The view is entirely based on my watching of the match. I'd advise you to play the ball (the report on the match) rather than the man (speculation on how those views came about).

Bailey carried the ball well, made lots of metres and was the nearest to a pack leader we had. Singleton the same. Kirke made more carries, but didn't make the metres in those carries as Bailey & Singleton had. So I'd call Bailey & Singleton as better than Kirke.

Stevie Ward made some big carries, was always looking to offload and hit some men hard in the tackle. I'll give you that he dropped away (true of the entire team).

Sutcliffe gave the most direction the team had, and set up a lot of the plays we scored off of.

I'll give you Ben White looked enigmatic. Didn't talk about Handley - I'll give you that he was very quiet. Golding didn't 'show up well' - he's the fullback, he has to return the kick. He did so poorly, waved one of the broncos players through for a try and got bumped off a ridiculous number of times. His positioning was also terrible - see Zak pelting back to cover for him and making the tackle after Golding conceded 10m.

Clarkson did feck all. He made no metres in the tackle and was generally anonymous.

A sane view of today's match..........a slight inconvenience before next week. Win next week, who cares, lose next week and they've made it a little bit harder for themselves in the playoffs.

The OP was always being optimistic using the word "sane" on this site after a defeat.

I frankly can't be bothered reading much of the gubbins the fekktards will have predictably been posting. Did anyone spill their vitriol after the 17 was named but before KO? I bet not.

Had we named pretty much a full strength team, which is what most appear to have wanted now in hindsight.....then gone onto lose the CC Final next week do we believe the posters on here would've said......

A - oh well at least we helped our league positioning by making sure of the 2 points vs London......league placing is more important than the cup we haven't won in 15 years.

B - f**king hell McDermott. Possibly the last chance this golden generation had at winning the CC and he ruined it by playing them in a meaningless league game vs London when everybody knows league placings are irrelevant. He should've rested like Powell did with his Cas starters.

I think we know the answer is almost certainly B.

Whatever position we miss out on come season end I'll be more disappointed about not picking up the win at Saints when they were injury hit rather than losing at London. We had good reasons for resting players vs London......vs Saints we just f**ked up when we had a golden chance.

For all the turmoil, we've played 28 game in total this year. We've only been outscored in tries in TWO games. 2 out of 28 games has the opposition crossed the tryline more than we have. 7 defeats and 5 of those we've scored the same amount of tries but got less kicks.....Sinfield missed 3 of those defeats.

Not sure how anyone can dismiss this pish poor result.
To say it is only 2 points and Cas also lost is in my opinion a bit arrogant.
We were playing London FFS .We should have beaten them despite resting or whatever you want to call it several players.
We should have beaten Bradford too.
Ok win next week and this result doesn't matter.
But win both games against two relegated sides and we would most likely have won at least one trophy and be in pole position for the Playoffs.
In my book we go to win every game.
Biggest mistake was to leave out Robbie Ward or let Burrow play today.
I certainly don't buy into this bolloc$s of it's only two points. Bird in the hand should always be the choice of a good team.

We should've beaten London today even with the team we put out. Especially when we had a 22 point lead with 30 mins left.....no team should let that lead slip against any opposition.

McDermott will take some stick for the team he put out, but at the same time it was good enough to race into that lead.....and whilst the coach sets the attitude/focus of the team he also shouldn't have to hold their hands out there. Losing that lead was sloppy by the players. Whilst I agree that R.Ward should've been on the bench instead of Golding, should that one change really be the difference between a win and loss today?

It shows once again what Sinfield gives us as captain. Without checking through the history books have we ever let such a lead slip? Only one that springs to mind is Canterbury Bulldogs in the 2005 WCC and we still managed to win.

Without being there today it's had to tell but did those fringe players think job done and let's try and impress for a Wembley place and forget the basics thus didn't get through those sets in the 30 mins like they should've done? Last week vs Wire even when they were pushing in the 2nd half I personally felt we had the situation well under control at all times.

People can talk about talented players coming through all they want, but the most important thing teams need are leaders. I think even most of us will agree that Sinfield isn't out-and-out near a super talent in terms of individual physical play......but his RL brain is well above others. The last 7 GF's have been shared between Leeds and Wigan, the two teams who IMO have the most/best leaders from the challengers in their teams.

Unfortunatley what has been shown all season is we do not seem to have any talent coming through

Its 2 fingers to the league. Again. How I yearn for the days when coming top of the league actually counted for something. I fully understand the value of next week's game but come the end of Sept no-one will be bothered who won the cup (Leeds or Cas fans aside), and we're making a GF appearance less & less likely with each point thrown away.

Yes of course this was a big disappointment but as has been said the team selected was good enough and had a 30-8 point lead with 20 minutes to go and substitutions should not have effected the result. I have listened to Mac's after match interview and you can tell he was livid with certain players and said they will be held to account.

I didn't go to the game so my comments have to be taken in that context. However we did leak points down our left flank and on viewing the highlights VT Handley looked the rookie centre that he is defensively. Also in the second half Bailey looked defensively soft for a couple of tries.

It will be interesting to see who makes the bench for Wembley. Achurch attacking ability may have won him a place

Som fair points there Printer and from what is being said McDermott is not a happy man with some of the individuals yesterday.
I agree we should have had enough experience to beat a poor London side and some of the more experienced players have once again shown themselves up.
It might also highlight how poor some of the youngsters are this time around.
Like many have said we are bang in trouble when we lose Sinfield and JP.
Really can`t understand why we were tempted to flog Aiton without a decent back up hooker on the park.
Roll on Saturday.

The attitude was all wrong, and you could see it from the stands. Even when we were 36-26 up, i remember saying to my mate that we had lost the game. They were opening us up at will by then, and nobody was talking or taking leadership. I think we will come to regret the 4 dropped points against the relegated teams.

Still waiting for someone to utter a word of praise for London........

Congratulations. I hoped you would win at least one this season, as I actually think the effort the players have put in to a losing cause has been exemplary when I've seen you. I just really hoped it wouldnt be this weekend!!

32 tackles with 1 miss. You're the one who sets great store on stats, when it suits you.

Who are you on about Handley or Bailey mate? Because there is no way Handley only missed one tackle, I counted at least 5.

Bailey. Handley's down as missing 6 and even from the highlights you can see he had a mare. Not sure you could say same about Bailey unless watching with an agenda.

Calm down izzy. Bailey made 32 tackles and 13 carries so obviously put in some decent work. However if you care to read my comment and then view the VT you will see that he looked to have run out of gas as he never even tried to get into a position to make a tackle or even a missed one on two occasions when they scored. As I said my comments were made only on seeing the VT and hearing Mac's comments.

My comment regarding Handley was valid too as although he made 26 tackles he also missed 7 (not 6)

Without seeing the game we have no idea whether it was missed tackles that cost us. I suspect it was lazy play which meant no tackle at all. (see my above bailey comment)

We all have access to the store of stats. It is how you interpret them that counts. Assuming you read them correctly. Handley made 7 missed tackles not 6!