Undermanned Broncos Fight Hard Against Warriors
An undermanned Brisbane Broncos battled bravely but could not overcome the Warriors 32-16 in front of a sellout 22,711 crowd at Go Media Stadium.
A Broncos team already missing five regular starters through Origin, injury and suspension were dealt another blow inside the opening five minutes when Jack Gosiewski was forced from the field with a broken arm, sending Kobe Hetherington to the back row.
It wasn’t looking good as Brisbane went behind 16-0 inside 27 minutes on the back of a glut of possession but the Broncos dug in and made more than a game of it in front of a vocal Auckland crowd.
Prop Corey Jensen stood up in the absence of Pat Carrigan and Payne Haas to lead the pack with 160 running metres and 50 tackles, while Martin Taupau wound back the clock charging for 168 meters, and Hetherington worked hard all night after being thrown into an unfamiliar role.
Halfback Jock Madden’s kicking and running games grew as the game went on, winger Deine Mariner crossed for a double, and centre Selwyn Cobbo busted nine tackles in running for 139 metres while finishing the game playing as a middle forward.
The game was an arm wrestle for the first 10 minutes until the Broncos handed the Warriors a string of repeat sets and the home side crossed on their left through Chanel Harris-Tavita for a 6-0 lead.
The Warriors shot out to a 12-0 advantage off the back of another sustained period of possession when former Bronco Te Maire Martin skirted over from dummy half close to the line in the 14th minute.
Brisbane were in quicksand and were forced to defend their line again for another 10 minutes, with a number of big tackles turning back a rampant home team – none better than Jesse Arthars on Dallin Watene-Zelezniak to knock the ball free and stop a certain try in the right corner.
But the Warriors kept on coming and Harris-Tavita had a double when he scrambled to get to a grubber kick first and make it 16-0 in the 27th minute.
Brisbane finally got some field position and capitalised with a much needed try off a neat Jock Madden cross-kick that found the grass, with Mariner getting to the ball first for his 13th try of the season in the 30th minute.
Captain Kotoni Staggs converted to bring the scoreline back to 16-6 at halftime and the visitors emerged from the sheds off the back of some positive words from coach Kevvie Walters to play some enterprising football.
Brisbane threw the ball wide and made more metres, an Ezra Mam 40/20 kick in the 47th minute lifting his team further and giving them some good field position.
The Broncos were unlucky not to be awarded a try to Selwyn Cobbo in the left corner when he was shoulder-charged attempting to score but they got their four-pointer soon after with a lovely Tristan Sailor long ball finding Mariner who had too much speed to score on the right and drag it back to 16-10 in the 51st minute.
The Warriors steadied with a another try from a kick to Roger Tuivasa-Sheck with 20 minutes to go but the visitors would not go away and when Xavier Willison bullocked his way over to score next the posts in the 64th minute, it was game on.
But the home team edged back out to a 10-point lead when Watene-Zelezniak out jumped his opponent to catch a cross-kick and score in the right corner with 10 minutes to go, and then sealed the game when Freddy Lussick scored on the left in the 72nd minute.
BRONCOS 16 (Tries: Mariner 2, Willison. Goals: Staggs 2) defeated by Warriors 32 (Tries: Harris-Tavita 2, Martin, Tuivasa-Sheck, Watene-Zelezniak, Lussick. Goals: Pompey 3, Harris-Tavita) at Go Media Stadium. Halftime: Warriors 16-6. Crowd: 22,711
