It was the night that the Baby Broncos came of age – but the Wests Tigers still walked away with a 16-14 NRL win at Suncorp Stadium.

For the record, bench back Mitch Brown defied slippery conditions to snaffle a clever Robbie Farah kick and clinch the match-winning try in the 78th minute for the Wests Tigers on Friday night.

But it was still hard to wipe the smile off Broncos coach Ivan Henjak’s face afterwards.

“I am proud of them. We didn’t deserve that – sometimes it (footy) is cruel,” he said.

“I don’t think they (Wests Tigers) earned too many of their points tonight.

“We just couldn’t put the final touch to it. It was one of those nights – I was proud of them.”

Despite being without their Origin contingent of Darren Lockyer, Israel Folau and Sam Thaiday, the Broncos were in sight of their seventh win in eight games when they led 14-12 in the dying minutes in front of 30,127 screaming fans.

Enter Farah.

The Wests Tigers hooker showed uncanny poise in torrential rain to direct a pin-point cross-field kick to Brown who had only been on the field for a handful of minutes.

A fifth win in six games entrenched the Wests Tigers (9-6 record) in the top four – and broke hearts in the Broncos ranks.

At one stage battling with a 2-6 record, the Broncos (8-8 record) have jumped from second-last to have a serious crack at the top four in 2010.

However, the Broncos will go into the bye following the Origin dead rubber wondering what might have been thanks to Farah’s heroics.

Henjak still sounded like the winning coach when he emerged from the dressing sheds.

“I don’t want to deflect away from those guys (Origin contingent not playing) – we just weren’t good enough tonight,” Henjak said.

“(But) the first eight weeks we were the worst defensive team statistically and in the next eight weeks we would go close to being the best team in points scored against us.

“The players deserve a tremendous rap for the way they turned it around.

“We won’t lose any confidence from that performance – if anything it would have grown.”

After trailing 12-8 at halftime, the Broncos looked to have sealed the result in miserable conditions when last minute entry Gerard Beale crashed over in the 50th minute to give the hosts a 14-12 buffer.

But the visitors weren’t to be denied thanks to Farah.

“They would probably consider themselves unlucky but I consider that a game where we showed plenty of character,” Tigers coach Tim Sheens said.

Farah said he followed his instincts in the dying minutes in what proved a match winning play.

“Benji (Marshall) called for a kick and was chasing through for the grubber but I saw the space out wide,” he said.

“I knew if I put it in the right spot we were a chance – Mitch was good enough to score the try.

“The last five or six weeks we haven’t been too pretty in our wins – there’s a lot of room for improvement in our game.”

In the only concern for Sheens, Gareth Ellis (groin) is in a “fair amount of doubt” for next week’s clash with the Gold Coast Titans at Campbelltown Stadium.

© AAP 2012

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