Wide Bay fades to Black
Broncos young gun sets up 130-0 belting
Broncos young gun Coby Black has orchestrated one of the biggest wins in rugby league’s 129-year history.
Touted as the successor to Adam Reynolds, the teenage halfback sensation helped Burleigh enter the record books after a 46-point haul in his side’s stunning 130-0 smashing of the woeful Wide Bay Bulls on Saturday.
Pizzey Park could have been confused with the Gabba as Burleigh racked up a cricket score, with the brilliant Black expertly calling the shots as the Bears posted a staggering 23 tries in a ruthless scoring blitzwhipping. krieg in the Mal Meninga Cup. On a historic afternoon, the Bears ran riot, scoring a try every 208 seconds against the hapless Bulls to record one of the biggest wins ever seen since the birth of rugby league in England in 1895.
Black was at the epicentre of the Pizzey Park massacre, the 17-year-old Broncos young gun posting two tries and 19 conversions in one of the most phenomenal pointscoring efforts by an individual.
With Black pulling the strings, the Bears charged to a 70-0 lead at halftime and went for the jugular after the break, inflicting another 60 on the broken Bulls in an under-18s cakewalk.
It is believed Wide Bay had just two sets in a disastrous first half as Burleigh raced in seven tries to lead 42-0 after 19 minutes. The Broncos are grooming Black to one day replace Reynolds and Bears CEO Damian Driscoll was blown away by Burleigh’s teenage brigade.
“Our boys are a good team and they were on,” Driscoll said.
“There’s some good players in the team. It’s not good for anyone, those sorts of scorelines.
“It’s going to be tough to beat Redcliffe and Tweed but we’re in the finals.”
Burleigh’s Mal Meninga mauling is up there with the biggest victories in the sport’s history. In England, the York City Knights flogged the West Walsh Raiders 144-0 in the League One competition in 2018, while Barrow thrashed Nottingham City 138-0 in the 1994 Regal Trophy.
In the international arena, France smashed Serbia 120-0 in the 2003 Mediterranean Cup, while a Gorden Talliscaptained Australian team routed Russia 110-4 at the 2000 World Cup.
Closer to home, St George’s 91-6 caning of the Canterbury Bulldogs in 1935 remains the greatest win in Australian rugby league premiership history.
But Queensland rugby league has rarely witnessed a century scoreline and, aside from the contribution of boom playmaker Black, a posse of well-known league surnames played a role in the Wide Bay Star Melbourne Storm winger Xavier Coates was at Pizzey Park to watch his younger brother Phillip, who scored a hat-trick, while teammates Sunny Kama and Disharne Tonihi scored four tries apiece.
Former Gold Coast forward Anthony Laffranchi’s son Oscar, a prop, turned out for Burleigh, as did Cooper Bai, the offspring of ex-Storm, Chargers and PNG cult figure Marcus. Black’s 46-point feast is believed to have equalled an individual scoring record, joining Penrith halfback legend Greg Alexander, who scored five tries and 13 goals against France B in Lyon on the 1990 Kangaroo Tour.