Broncos overpower Hunters in trial

In front of a 15,000 strong parochial PNG crowd, the Brisbane Broncos scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to beat the reigning QLD cup champions, PNG Hunters 26 – 12 in their preseason hit out yesterday afternoon at the National Football Stadium, Port Moresby.

The Andrew Demetriou coached side fielded its top 20-man squad minus the trio of Darius Boyd, Jack Bird and Andrew McCullough.

The Broncos were gifted territory and possession in the opening exchanges as the Hunters were mercilessly penalised for incorrect play the ball infringements.

Jonus Pearson opened the scoring from a well worked back line sweep with Jordan Kahu adding the extras to establish a six-point lead before the 10 minute mark.

The visitors looked to be in control for the next quarter of the match but rusty set play execution and handling errors evened possession benefiting the resilient Hunters, enabling standout prop Enoch Maki to make inroads with his damaging runs.

Sustained attack from PNG within the opposition red zone yielded dividends for the home side as Maki bulldozed over beside the post with a converted try to draw the contest level.

With the afternoon sapping energy from the NRL side, the Hunters dominated proceedings as half-time approached.

Anthony Milford gifted the pill back after a failed touch finder attempt consigned his teammates to defending their try line yet again.

A deflected kick from Hunters half, Watson Boas sat up fortuitously in goal as he had first dibs on the plant down to send the Port Moresby crowd into raptures. Boas converted his own try to send his side into the break leading Brisbane, 12 to 6.

The second half started as the first, with the enforced incorrect play the ball penalty – punctuating continuity for the home side.

Broncos skipper Alex Glenn barged over for an unconverted try to reduce the deficit to 2 by the 48th min.

In the succeeding set after the restart, a deftly weighted chip from Milford into the in goal had Sims notching up the visitors 3rd try and lead at 16 – 12.

With Sims leading the resurgence, he and Matt Lodge were a handful for the smaller Hunters forward pack.

An overlap down the right-hand side had PNG scrambling for numbers as Kahu went in untouched to extend the Broncos lead by eight with a quarter of the match remaining.

The Hunters had a couple of genuine shots at crossing the stripe but handling errors and the NRL sides constrictive defensive line rendered their attacking raids ineffective.

Crowd favourite, Corey Oates, sealed the result with his customary acrobatic put down just inside the left-hand post. Kahu curled the final conversion through to complete the 14 point victory.