BRISBANE BRONCOS 32 CANTERBURY BULLDOGS 12
STEPHEN IBBETSON, Suncorp Stadium, Friday
BRISBANE, severely hit by injuries, produced the best performance of their title defence yet to overwhelm Canterbury.
A fifth win of the season was virtually assured six minutes after half-time when an Ezra Mam try was added to their 20-0 half-time lead.
The Broncos showed gritty defence in the early stages and then maintained the advantage built up through Mam, who registered three try assists.
He kicked through for Gehamat Shibasaki on 17 minutes, then sent a long ball to Josiah Karapani.
Canterbury’s weren’t helped by Harry Hayes’ trip on Adam Reynolds, which allowed the playmaker to add a penalty to his conversion of the opening try and saw Hayes off for ten minutes.
During that time Brisbane added two more tries through a remarkable Deine Mariner dive and Cory Paix from a break by Jordan Riki and Mariner.
Reynolds couldn’t covert either but did after Mam picked up after a Lachlan Galvin fumble to make it 26-0.
Only after a Riki sin bin, for a high shot on Jonathan Sua, did the Bulldogs finally register through Matt Burton.
But determined Brisbane defence meant it took until the 69th minute for Galvin to get their next.
Stephen Crichton kicked both goals but time wasn’t on Canterbury’s side. Xavier Willison crawled over late on, provided by Mam, and Reynolds added his fourth goal.
BRONCOS: 18 Hayze Perham, 2 Josiah Karapani, 3 Kotoni Staggs, 4 Gehamat Shibasaki, 5 Deine Mariner, 6 Ezra Mam, 7 Adam Reynolds, 8 Ben Talty, 9 Cory Paix, 10 Jack Gosiewski, 11 Brendan Piakura, 12 Jordan Riki, 13 Xavier Willison. Subs: 14 Josh Rogers, 15 Jaiyden Hunt, 16 Preston Riki, 17 Va’a Semu, 19 Antonio Verhoeven (not used), 20 Thomas Duffy (not used)
Tries: Shibasaki (17), Karapani (22), Mariner (33), Paix (38), Mam (46), Willison (78); Goals: Reynolds 4/7; Sin bin: Riki (51) – high tackle
BULLDOGS: 1 Connor Tracey, 2 Jonathan Sua, 3 Bronson Xerri, 4 Stephen Crichton, 5 Marcelo Montoya, 6 Matt Burton, 7 Lachlan Galvin, 8 Samuel Hughes, 17 Jake Turpin, 10 Leo Thompson, 11 Viliame Kikau, 12 Jacob Preston, 13 Jaeman Salmon. Subs: 9 Bailey Hayward, 14 Kurt Mann, 15 Sitili Tupouniua, 16 Harry Hayes, 19 Josh Curran (not used), 21 Jethro Rinakama (not used)
Tries: Burton (56), Galvin (69); Goals: Crichton 2/2; Sin bin: Hayes (29) – trip
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 10-0, 12-0, 16-0, 20-0; 26-0, 26-6, 26-12, 32-12
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Broncos: Ezra Mam; Bulldogs: Jonathan Sua
Penalty count: 7-2; Half-time: 20-0; Referee: Wyatt Raymond; Attendance: 42,775