A Jamie Soward-inspired London Broncos side overcame a 16 point deficit to beat Hull KR 34-22 at MS3 Craven Park.

The Robins raced into a 16-0 lead with tries from Josh Guzdek, Craig Hall and Omari Caro but gave away two soft tries before the break.

Inspired by Jamie Soward, making his final appearance for the Broncos before linking up with the Penrith Panthers, and Mason Caton-Brown who scored a hat-trick London ran out as deserved winners and avoid the wooden spoon finishing ahead of Salford City Reds at the bottom of the table.

Caton-Brown scored after backing up a break from Dixon and Soward danced over the line to score bringing them back to 16-10 down at half time.

Caton-Brown scored a further two tries and Soward added another before Mark Bryant closed out the match with a try of his own.

The Robins found themselves on the scoresheet after just two minutes of play through Guzdek. The debutant was played through a gap in the line and scored next to the posts to put Rovers ahead.

Hall quickly followed this up with a try of his own after backing up Withers who made a break. Playing at half back Withers took an offload and ran through a gaping hole in the Broncos defence and passed to Hall running in support who had the legs to score from 30 metres out.

Rovers found themselves 16-0 up after Caro scored in the corner. Hall passed across the line to Welham who flicked the ball out to Caro who stepped back inside through a gap and rolled over a defender as he dived over the line.

London came back into the game as errors started to creep in Rovers’ game. Hall had a try ruled out after making a break through the middle and kicked the ball towards London’s line, despite appearin to ground the ball the try was ruled out by the in-goal official.

With their next possession London broke through KR’s line and Dixon kicked the ball to the left-hand side for Caton-Brown who had plenty of time to ground the ball. Soward missed the conversion but made up for his miss with a score of his own a few minutes later.

The half back, making his final appearance for the Broncos before heading back to the NRL, spotted a gap in Rovers’ line and sidestepped his way through the Robins defence to score under the posts. He then converted his own try just a few minutes before half time with the score at 16-10.

London levelled the scores with Soward’s second try of the afternoon. Ben Fisher made a break up the middle but was stopped short of the line by Heil and Guzdek but the half back wasn’t tackled and he got back to his feet and offloaded to Soward who scored under the posts.

After a knock on from Withers and a penalty for offside London found themselves deep inside Rovers’ half and their pressure told as Caton-Brown scored his second of the match. Soward chipped the ball over the top on the last tackle and Caton-Brown easily beat Chris Heil to pluck the ball out of the air and score.

Welham helped level the scores after beating London’s defence to Hall’s kick on the last tackle. Caro had been previously held up by three defenders and on the last Hall kicked a grubber through which bounced awkwardly as Macani tried to take the ball and Welham beat his opposite number to make the grounding. Hall kicked the conversion and the scores were level at 22-22.

Despite their work in attack lapses of concentration in defence proved to be Rovers’ downfall as Heil raced out of the line to attempt a tackle Caton-Brown was played into space by Soward after some nice offloads. Caton-Brown then raced 20 metres to score uncontested in the corner.

Bryant put the result beyond doubt as he ran through KR’s defence to score with just a minute remaining, he then converted his own try to end the game 34-22.

Hull KR will travel to Langtree Park to take on St Helens next Saturday in their playoff elimination match.

Hull KR: Guzdek, Caro, Welham, Heil, Brown; Withers, Hall; Tuimavave, Carlile, Netherton, Cox, Lovegrove, Griffin
Subs: Hepi, Ollett, Green Beaumont
T: Guzdek, Hall, Caro, Welham
G: Hall 3/4

London Broncos: Dixon, Hurst, Macani, Caton-Brown, Melling; Sarginson, Soward; Krasniqi, Bishay, Cook, McMeeken, Kaufusi, Lee
Subs: Bryant, Fisher, Dollapi, Wicks
T: Caton-Brown 3, Soward 2, Bryant
G: Soward 4/5, Bryant 1/1

Referee: Chris Leatherbarrow

RLFANS Man of the Match: Jamie Soward

Half Time: 16-10
Full Time: 34-22