Broncos teach lesson to poor little brother
RUGBY LEAGUE Broncos have all but cemented their place in this year’s NRL finals series, after notching up their biggest win of the year against the Titans last night.
After slipping to their Queensland counterparts in Round 4, Brisbane has reminded the Gold Coast just why it is deemed the “big brother” of the rivalry, running away with a 34-0 victory on the Titans’ home turf.
The win not only saw the Broncos move into seventh spot ahead of the Warriors, boosting their negative forand-against by 34 points, but also appeared to lock up the top eight.
Barring any disasters over the next eight rounds, the Broncos are likely to play in their fifth-straight finals series, with six-points difference on the ladder between them and the ninth-placed Raiders.
It was a strong performance from the Broncos as their little brother put in an error-riddled performance at Cbus Super Stadium. Brisbane did hesitate in capitalising those mistakes.
Ahead of the match, coach Wayne Bennett said he had not seen a more talented group of forwards come through the club at one time and this was evident last night as the likes of Joe Ofahengaue, Tevita Pangai Jr, Matt Lodge and teenage monster David Fifita led the Broncos to victory.
Ofahengaue was not on particu- larly impressive filling in for Queensland forward Josh McGuire at lock, making 162m off 13 runs, three tackle busts and 29 tackles, while Lodge finished with the most metres at 173.
The solid performance from the forward pack enabled halves Anthony Milford and Kodi Nikorima to run the show.
Brisbane’s biggest winning margin before this game was just nine points.
Bennett said it was refreshing to have that breakthrough in attack but applauded the effort of the entire team without the Origin contingent plus injured players Matt Gillett and Jack Bird. “We needed to get to that place,” he said of the big winning margin.
“We had seven players out of the top squad missing ... I just thought they all did a great job.
“It shows we have good depth. Whatever they had to throw at us, we could defend it.”
The Broncos’ defence was outstanding as they kept the Titans to nil and now the key for the club is to push for a topfour spot.
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MELBOURNE 52 (C Blair 2 B Croft R Hoffman J Hughes R Jacks C Scott Y Tonumaipea S Vunivalu tries C Smith 8 goals) d ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 30 (K Mann 2 E Aitken L Leilua N MacDonald tries G Widdop 5 goals) at AAMI Park. Referee: Matt Cecchin, Gavin Reynolds. PENRITH 36 (J Luai 2 W Blake C Harawira-Naera V Kikau T Phillips tries J Luai 6 goals) d NZ WARRIORS 4 (K Maumalo try) at Panthers Stadium. Referee: Ben Cummins, Chris Sutton. Crowd: 12,167. CANBERRA 32 (B Austin N Cotric J Croker J Leilua J Tapine S Williams tries J Croker 4 goals) d CANTERBURY 28 (R Martin 3 J Marshall-King tries R Martin 6 goals) at Belmore Sports Ground. Referee: Gavin Badger, Grant Atkins. Crowd: 10,145. BRISBANE 34 (D Boyd K Nikorima J Ofahengaue J Pearson K Staggs tries J Isaako 7 goals) d GOLD COAST 0 at Cbus Super Stadium. Referee: Henry Perenara, Adam Gee. Crowd: 18,005. Bye — South Sydney, Sydney Roosters, Cronulla, Wests Tigers, Newcastle, Manly, North Queensland, Parramatta
WE HAD SEVEN PLAYERS OUT OF THE TOP SQUAD MISSING ... I JUST THOUGHT THEY ALL DID A GREAT JOB. IT SHOWS WE HAVE GOOD DEPTH