Brisbane Broncos produced a masterful second-half performance to down South Sydney Rabbitohs 24-20.
The Burgess brothers began well which got Souths on the front foot early. An Adam Reynolds grubber got them on the scoreboard when Jack Bird missed it but Cody Walker didn’t.
Brisbane came back at them in style. The ball was spread left on the last. Corey Oates exchanged passes with Alex Glenn before kicking in behind. Richie Kennar didn’t realise Darius Boyd was sneaking up on his outside and the fullback grounded the ball.
Greg Inglis marked his 250th game with a try assist when he fed Alex Johnston in a runaround play.
Johnston made another good contribution, this time in defence. He held up Kodi Nikorima amazingly after Korbin Sims offloaded to the replacement hooker.
But eight minutes into the second half, Nikorima got his try. He jumped from dummy half and used his speed and skill to slice through and level the scores.
A Reynolds penalty put Souths two points in front shortly afterwards. But their lead lasted only a few minutes. Oates went straight through the Rabbitohs ruck and did enough to shrug off Johnston to slide over.
Brisbane were having an excellent second half. They forced Kennar back into his own in-goal to set up the position for Milford to kick in behind for James Roberts.
Souths made it an interesting last five minutes when Walker fed John Sutton but Brisbane held on.
Rabbitohs: Johnston, Kennar, Inglis, Gagai, Jennings, Walker, Reynolds, T Burgess, Cook, G Burgess, Sutton, Crichton, Murray; Interchanges: Doueihi, Nicholls, Clark, Tatola.
Tries: Walker, Johnston; Goals: Reynolds 3
Broncos: Boyd, Oates, Roberts, Opacic, Isaako, Milford, Bird, Lodge, McGuire, Thaiday, Glenn, Su’A, Pangai jnr; Interchanges: Ofahengaue, Nikorima, Sims, Haas.
Tries: Boyd, Nikorima, Oates, Roberts; Goals: Isaako 4
