London Broncos beat Toronto Wolfpack 4-2 in the Million Pound Game
Two penalties from Jarrod Sammut were enough to earn London Broncos a shock 4-2 Million Pound Game victory over the Toronto Wolfpack in Canada on Sunday.
The Broncos got over the line largely as a result of an immense defensive effort.
On four occasions Toronto were denied tries, with three of those incidents coming after London players held up their opponents over the tryline.
The tight clash at Lamport Stadium was the final Million Pound Game, with a change in structure coming in from next season.
Toronto had pledged ahead of kick-off to take matches in 2019 to locations such as Copenhagen and Dublin to both avoid the extremities of a Canadian winter and spread the game.
Standing in the way of history were the Broncos, who were aiming to return to Super League after a four-year absence.
Toronto had a first-minute try by skipper Josh McCrone disallowed for offside and fell behind when London half-back Sammut kicked a ninth-minute penalty, which proved to the only score of a defence-dominated first half.
The Broncos were impressive in defence and were the livelier side on attack, with Sammut pulling the strings and hooker Eloi Pelissier causing the Wolfpack all sorts of problems with his running.
Toronto missed a glorious chance when winger Mason Caton-Brown kicked a loose ball into space but his dribbling skills let him down near the line. They were temporarily reduced to 12 men when substitute hooker Andy Ackers was sin-binned for a late and high tackle on Pelissier.
Veteran prop Ashton Sims was held up over the line and second rower Andrew Dixon was brought down just short as Toronto pressed for a try.
Full-back Gareth O'Brien brought them level with a 56th-minute penalty goal but Sammut cancelled it out two minutes later with his second and O'Brien was off target with a longer-range effort soon after.
The Wolfpack's last chance disappeared when stand-off Blake Wallace reached the line with nine minutes left but was held on his back in a magnificent tackle from London full-back Alex Walker, whose side held on for a 4-2 victory.
