A spectacular aerial effort from Brisbane winger Corey Oates has sealed a dramatic 20-16 win for the Broncos over the Cronulla Sharks at Southern Cross Group Stadium.
Saturday night’s game at the Shire begun in extraordinary fashion as Brisbane opened the scoring in the first minute against the run of play.
After what was a conservative opening set from Cronulla, Chad Townsend’s last-tackle kick was charged down by Tevita Pangai-Junior who then regathered the ball and raced away to silence the 14,587 fans at Southern Cross Group Stadium.
Brisbane soon extended their lead when Anthony Milford took on the line and stepped through Cronulla’s big men to slice over under the posts.
It was the perfect start for Wayne Bennett’s men, who were looking to consolidate their position within the competition’s top eight.
However, they then faced an early setback when Milford was sin-binned when he held down Cronulla winger Sione Katoa for too long.
The Sharks quickly took advantage when slick hands from Valentine Holmes saw Jesse Ramien score in the corner.
Cronulla looked to have crossed for their second in the 32nd minute when Katoa dived over only for the Bunker to disallow it with Luke Lewis ruled to have obstructed Anthony Milford.
Shane Flanagan’s men had several chances to strike back but poor ball handling cost them, with the Sharks heading into the sheds down 14-4 with a 61 per cent completion rate.
The Broncos had completed at 94 per cent in the first half and it was ultimately what separated the two sides in the opening forty.
However, errors plagued Brisbane’s start to the second half and quickly invited Cronulla back into the contest.
The Sharks finally capitalised in the 59th minute when Ricky Leutele charged over off a left-side raid and the home side quickly made it back-to-back tries in the 64th minute to draw level.
James Segeyaro had provided a much-needed spark off the bench for Cronulla and a special inside ball from the interchange hooker saw Wade Graham score untouched to set up a tense finish.
The Sharks were well on top in the second half yet poor execution continually cost them from sealing the victory.
Eventually, the Broncos made them pay when Corey Oates soared over in the corner to score an unbelievable four-pointer that would hand Brisbane a tense 20-16 win.
The victory sees the Broncos draw level on 18 competition points with the Sharks.
Next week Cronulla travel across the ditch to face the high-flying Warriors on Friday night while Brisbane host the Raiders on Saturday night in what shapes as a must-win clash for the Green Machine.
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