London Broncos 62 Whitehaven 4: Whitehaven’s long trip to London ended in painful misery as they conceded 11 tries and lost three players to injury in the first 63 minutes, leaving only one interchange for almost a quarter.

If there is a consolation for Haven it is that Louis Jouffret’s try with eight seconds remaining was the first try the London Broncos had conceded in the second half of four consecutive home games.

In the first and last seven minutes, Haven were a match for London, but the middle 66 were not so good. After seven minutes Ted Chapelhow made a break and from the 20, Grant Gore kicked towards the try-line.

Alex Walker fumbled the ball, but referee Scott Mikalauskas ruled that there was a Haven player in front of the kicker and he hadn’t given Walker 10 metres. Four minutes later, Haven were behind.

A grubber by Scott Leatherbarrow was fumbled by Ed Chamberlain to give the Broncos a scrum 10 metres out. On the third tackle a long pass from Alex Foster found Rhys Williams in space and the winger was able to squeeze over in the left corner.

However, there was a 12-minute delay as Jordan Burns received treatment and was eventually stretchered off. Sam Brooks replaced him.

Broncos triallist stand-off Api Pewhairangi made a case for his four-week deal to be extended by taking centre stage for much of the rest of the half.

In the 14th minute, he was sent into a gap by Leatherbarrow and stepped through three tacklers before touching down.

From London’s next possession a deep kick was well gathered by Chamberlain, who launched a good counter-attack with a 30-metre run.

However, when that attack fizzled out, and the ball was kicked back to London, the return was 45 metres and, three tackles later, Pewhairangi finished off with another powerful run.

Haven were not seeing the ball much and on their rare possessions, they found the home defence in unforgiving mood.

A good Whitehaven possession might have brought them 30 metres before a kick; with London it was 60 or so metres if they didn’t score.

London went further ahead when a Jack Bussey kick was allowed to bounce in the in-goal area and as Haven defenders waited for it roll dead, Wes Naiqama put his hand on it.

The goalkicking centre had a massive day, with two tries and nine successful kicks from 11 attempts, many from the touchline, for a total of 26, his best return as a London player.

Next to score was American international prop Mark Offerdahl, sent through a huge hole by Pewhairangi, who almost certainly could have completed his hat-trick himself had he opted to run with the ball.

Things should have got even worse for the Cumbrians just before the break when Ben Hellewell made a break and passed the ball to Leatherbarrow.

The stand-off fumbled with the try-line at his mercy and no defender close to him.

Three minutes after the restart, Leatherbarrow’s apology came by way of a pass to Hellewell who scored in the corner.

Three minutes later, a powerful burst by Mark Ioane proved too much for a handful of Haven defenders who were brushed aside or fell away in the tackle.

Stopped five metres from the line, Ioane popped up a pass to Hellewell who finished with ease. Williams completed his double after 52 minutes, this after Jon Magrin had made good yards in the build-up to the score.

James Cunningham’s dart from half-back brought him a try on the last tackle as Haven dropped back expecting a kick and couldn’t react quickly enough. After 63 minutes, Chamberlain was injured in tackle and was stretchered off with what might be a dislocated hip.

With Brooks unable to play in the second half with an ankle injury, it meant for 17 minutes, there was only available interchange.

Outmatched and in danger of being overrun, it was something of a minor triumph that the Broncos added only two more tries, from Naiqama and Alex Foster.

It took until the 32nd minute of the second half for Haven to actually have the ball inside the London 20 metre zone for the first time.

And with the last play of the game, Haven managed to get over the line when Jouffret was able to get the ball down.

His missed the conversion, but it didn’t matter much.

Whitehaven: Chamberlain, Burns, Holliday, Brocklebank, Ince, Jouffret, Gore, Riley, Newton, T. Chapelhow, Allen, Parker, Carberry. Subs: Brooks, T. Coyle, Davies, Duffy

Try: Jouffret

London Broncos: Foster, Williams, Hellewell, Naiqama, Kear, Pewhairangi, Leatherbarrow, Slyney, Ackers, Battye, Harrison, Foster, Bussey. Subs: Cunningham, Ioane, Offerdahl, Magrin

Tries:  Williams 2, Pewhairangi 2, Naiqama 2, Offerdahl, Hellwell 2, Cunningham, Foster; Goals: Naiqama 9/11

Referee: Scott Mikalauskas

Attendance: 675