London Broncos go down to Bulls as star centre Max hospitalised

The London Broncos tasted their first defeat in the early hours of this morning going down to the Bradford Bulls 26-8 in the Betfred Challenge Cup.

The Bulls opened up the scoring in the 5th minute when Jayden Okumbor crossed over on the right side.

Trailing by four in the 22nd minute, Jason Demetrious' men fought back with PNG international Finley Glare collecting an offload from teammate Luke Smith and darted towards the try line to score the equaliser and his second try for the season.

Just before halftime, a switch play by Gairo Voro kept the ball alive with Finley Glare linking up with fullback Morea Morea who got a try assist when he floated a long pass that found Liam Tindall which saw them leading 8-4 at the break.

The second stanza was dominated by the Bulls with tries from Ackers, Ryan, PNG Kumul Dan Russell and Fiji Bati international Waqa Blake handing the Broncos their first loss of the season.

Despite the loss, London Broncos coach Jason Demetriou was proud of the efforts put in by his players and he is now concerned with the injuries sustained in that game.

"We lost Campbell Gilliard calf, Dean Hawkins Calf and Lewis Bienek also in the first half so that puts on a fair little bit of pressure and then we lost Alex Max who had to go to the hospital with a chest injury so I am more concerned with Alex now to make sure he is alright," Demetriou said after the game.

Scoring seven tries for the London Broncos in three games, the former PNG Hunters Alex Max has become a fan favorite in the UK and is likely to sit down for a couple weeks pending official confirmation from the London Broncos.