The New Zealand Warriors have pulled off an emphatic upset victory at Mount Smart Stadium, playing an aggressive brand of Rugby League as they dismantled the Brisbane Broncos by 18 points.
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It had the feel of a must-win match for the Warriors coming in, with the Broncos being fatigued from Origin and the match being played at Mount Smart Stadium.
It was evident from the start the Warriors had been given orders to release the shackles and play a style that suited their talents – namely, Shaun Johnson, Tuimoala Lolohea and Isaac Luke simply playing the game as it was ahead of them.
That was also mixed up with little bits of structure as required, and the Warriors game management – something that has been severely lacking from their game – was near perfect throughout the match.
While there were some fantastic long range efforts for tries, it was also a case of the Warriors forwards dominating the Brisbane pack, being able to roll up field with ease and control possession and field territory for much of the game.
Out of the Warriors forwards, none were better than Albert Vete who was promoted to the starting team at the last minute – and Ben Matulino off the bench. It was also offload central for the Warriors, and the Broncos simply couldn’t handle it.
Unfortunately though, it won’t be the Warriors performance that will dominate the headlines tomorrow morning, but rather some dubious calls from referee Henry Perenara as the Broncos were called for forward passes on tries twice, and a number of other calls during the second half that seemed to stunt the Broncos comeback.
Of course, the Broncos were also hurt by the amount of players they had backing up from State of Origin, fatigue being an obvious factor at times in their defence.
Still, it was up to Ben Hunt and Anthony Milford to combine and bring the team out of trouble with a strong kicking game and use the opportunities they had to score points against what has been, but wasn’t today a typically soft Warriors defence. They didn’t do that, and struggled with their kicking game.
Darius Boyd was the bright spot for the Broncos, not making errors at the back and running the ball hard. The real low light for the Broncos was their left edge of Jack Reed and Lachlan Maranta with poor defence and a multitude of errors ruining their afternoon.
Shaun Johnson would grab the first try, benefiting off a Leuleuai pass from the line. He would put on a massive dummy and step, opening a hole in the line and there was no stopping him from that close.
Then it would be on for Bodene Thompson to score a fantastic try from a Shaun Johnson grubber. Solomone Kata would make a massive break through the line, get a good play the ball and Johnson put in the grubber for the corner, getting the bounce to regather before passing to Lillyman.
The third try was a simple barge over from Lillyman in the 21st minute.
Alex Glenn would get the Broncos on the board late in the first half with a beautiful bit of work from Ben Hunt in dummy half setting him up.
Despite the couple of disallowed tries for the Broncos heading into halftime, the Warriors thoroughly deserved their lead.
Coming out of halftime the Broncos needed to start strongly, but it was the complete opposite as the Warriors piled on the points, and the pain to effectively ruin the game as a contest in the first 10 minutes.
Shaun Johnson was again at his best with Lolohea, Isaac Luke and Thomas Leuluai also in fine form. Their forwards, again with Matulino at the fore, were dominant.
David Fusitu’a would score the first try of the second half, with a brilliant effort – suspended outside the field of play off a shift to the right and he managed to plan the ball in the corner. Some stationary defence aided his cause, but it was still a ridiculously good effort.
Ryan Hoffman would be the next man to cross over in the next set, with a long range effort. A perfect ball was thrown to Hoffman who ran an angle straight into the gap, and then straight over the top of Boyd at the back to score.
The game then calmed for a while, with the Broncos trying to get back into the contest before they scored through Jordan Kahu off an Anthony Milford grubber that for all money looked like it was going dead.
The Warriors snuffed out any chance of a comeback though with Fusitu’a scoring his second try just six minutes later.
Solomone Kata would then score off a long range effort with a great ball from Lolohea sending him on his way.
Herman Ese’Ese would then score the first try of his first grade career in the final minute of the game, crashing through some lazy defence with a barge over effort to score.
The Broncos will be a little worried by the performance, but backing up from Origin they can be excused. However, next week they need to make sure they are dominant.
While it’s hard not to sound like a broken record, the Warriors have won another game during the Origin period and will now look to go on a run that puts them in contention to play football in September.
Final Score
New Zealand Warriors 36
Brisbane Broncos 18
Stats
Tries: Warriors (7), Broncos (3)
Goals: Warriors (4/7), Broncos (3/3)
Possession: Warriors (53%), Broncos (47%)
Completions: Warriors (27/33), Broncos (19/30)
All runs: Warriors (160), Broncos (132)
All Run metres: Warriors (1539), Broncos (1165)
Line Breaks: Warriors (10), Broncos (4)
Offloads: Warriors (11), Broncos (7)
Tackles: Warriors (253), Broncos (287)
Missed Tackles: Warriors (16), Broncos (33)
Penalties: Warriors (6), Broncos (8)
Errors: Warriors (6), Broncos (9)
The Roar’s NRL MVP votes
3 – Shaun Johnson
2 – Tuimoala Lolohea
1 – Isaac Luke
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