London Broncos 10-36 Leeds Rhinos: Broncos on brink but Leeds look safe

Super League's bottom side London Broncos slipped closer to an immediate return to the Championship as Leeds Rhinos all but secured their own safety with a convincing win in the capital.

Luke Briscoe, Ava Seumanufagai and Jack Walker all crossed to give dominant Leeds an 18-0 half-time lead.

The hosts battled back through Kieran Dixon and Ryan Morgan's scores, but Rhinos added further late tries.

Ash Handley, Brad Dwyer and Walker's second completed the visitors' victory.

Leeds move four points above the Broncos with two matches remaining - and the Yorkshire club have a far superior points difference.

Broncos remain two points adrift of 11th-placed Hull Kingston Rovers, who they face on Sunday, 8 September.

The Londoners must avoid defeat in that match to keep any realistic hopes of their survival alive.

Danny Ward's side - who won at Catalans last time out to boost their hopes of avoiding the drop - are also just two points behind 10th-placed Huddersfield Giants and ninth-placed Wakefield Trinity, who they travel to on the final day of the regular season.

But Giants and Trinity both have points differences that are more than 100 points greater than Broncos'.

They briefly gave themselves hope of pulling off a stirring comeback when Dixon's interception try and Morgan's run and score in the corner brought the hosts back to only 18-10 down, early in the second half.

But Super League top scorer Handley's 22nd try of this campaign stretched Leeds' advantage again, before Liam Sutcliffe's break helped Walker cross. Dwyer then sealed it as Martin once again proved flawless with his boot.

London Broncos coach Danny Ward:

"It's disappointing obviously to lose, we know the stakes that are there in the league. Leeds were very good. We just got dominated in most positions.

"Discipline let us down a bit. The boys were just a little bit rattled and frustrated towards the end. That's why a couple of penalties were given against us at the end. A little bit uncharacteristic.

"The boys are devastated because they know they've not performed well and they've lost, but it's a short turnaround and we've got to win the next two.

"They've been in this situation before. Hopefully they can draw on those experiences. It's must-win time, so it depends how the boys react to that. Hopefully they deal with that pressure and it gets the best out of them."

Leeds interim coach Richard Agar:

"It was a tough game and a tough pitch at times. I'm highly delighted that the boys stuck together and stuck through it. Performance-wise there is a lot to improve on, but commitment and defensive effort was brilliant.

"I know mathematically we're still not safe but it's a fair old swing with two games and two other teams battling each other.

"It was not a very good performance at all if I'm honest. We lost our way on the interception (for Kieran Dixon's try).

"We showed clips all week not to throw balls at the line in Dixon's area. It was a real momentum change and we lost our way for 15-20 minutes. But we stuck together and got it back."

London Broncos: A Walker, Williams, Kear, Dixon, Abdull, Cunningham, Battye, Lovell, Pitts, Morgan, Yates, Krasniqi, Lamb.

Interchanges: Fozard, Gee, Mason, Butler.

Sin Bin: Dixon (71), Kear (80).

Leeds Rhinos: J Walker, Hurrell, Handley, Myler, Merrin, Dwyer, Ferres, Oledzki, Briscoe, Newman, Seumanufagai, Lui, Martin.

Interchanges: Cuthbertson, Sutcliffe, Smith, Donaldson.

Referee: Robert Hicks (RFL).

Fri 6 Sept: Leeds v Salford, St Helens v Huddersfield, Warrington v Wakefield, Wigan v Catalans

Sun 8 Sept: Hull KR v London Broncos, Castleford v Hull

Fri 13 Sept: Huddersfield v Catalans, Leeds v Warrington, Hull v St Helens, Wigan v Castleford

Sun 15 Sept: Wakefield v London Broncos, Salford v Hull KR