Dorn too hot for Tigers
Luke Dorn scored four tries as the London Broncos continued their resurgence with a 42-20 win over the Castleford Tigers.
Last Updated: 12/08/12 5:28pm
Luke Dorn scored four tries as the London Broncos continued their resurgence with a 42-20 win over the Castleford Tigers.
The former Tigers man ran riot as the capital club followed up their remarkable comeback against Salford by claiming the victory in West Yorkshire.
After winning three of their opening 22 games Tony Rea's team are now level on points with Widnes and two points behind Castleford.
The Tigers, who handed a debut to rookie half-back Ben Johnston after recalling him from his dual-registration spell at York, opened the scoring when Adam Milner raced clear from 20 metres to cross the line and Jamie Ellis converted.
London, who claimed back-to-back wins for the first time this season, responded in the 11th minute when Chris Bailey went over from Craig Gower's pass and Michael Witt added the extras.
In the 16th minute, London forged ahead when Dorn latched onto Witt's clever kick and grounded the ball for a try which Witt converted.
Ten minutes later the Broncos scored again when Jamie O'Callaghan scythed through the Castleford defence and sent the supporting Dorn racing under the posts.
Witt converted with ease and London were well in control at 18-6 ahead, a lead that was soon extended when Kieran Dixon caught and grounded a kick from Witt.
Castleford replied when veteran Danny Orr dummied his way over the line from close range in the before Ellis failed with the conversion attempt.
Soft underbelly
Yet Castleford's soft underbelly was exposed again when Bailey broke clear again in the 35th minute and sent Dorn sprinting clear for his hat-trick score.
Witt's conversion left London 30-10 ahead and saw Castleford booed off at half-time by their own supporters.
The Tigers, to their credit, refused to throw in the towel and were more competitive after the interval.
Nine minutes after the restart, a 40-20 kick from Ellis led to Josh Griffin bundling his way over and Ellis' conversion cut London's lead to 14 points.
But four minutes later, some more slick handling led to Witt and Gower combining to send Dorn over for his fourth try of the match.
Witt converted and, although Castleford replied when Griffin raced over in the right corner with nine minutes remaining, Ellis could not convert and Tony Clubb added another try for London late on, with Witt kicking his seventh goal from as many attempts.