Brisbane’s baby Broncos have overcame a whirlwind hat-trick of tries to Cronulla’s Josh Morris to record a dramatic 24-22 NRL win over the Sharks on Sunday.
Five-eighth Jake Turpin swooped on a great Tevita Pangai offload to level the scores with just over five minutes left and Kotoni Staggs kicked the conversion.
The Sharks scored five tries to four at Pointsbet Stadium, but Chad Townsend missed four kicks at goal while Staggs nailed all of his conversion attempts.
Cronulla lost captain Paul Gallen and back Matt Moylan to injuries during the game.
The Broncos snapped a three-match losing streak and increased the Sharks’ run of defeats to three.
Morris bagged his first hat-trick since his Bulldogs days in 2012, notching all three in a ten-minute spell, as the Sharks poured on 14 unanswered points in the third quarter to lead 22-12 after trailing 12-8 at halftime.
But Payne Haas crashed over for a try on the hour and the injury-hit Sharks couldn’t regain the momentum.
An incident involving Sharks replacement Kyle Flanagan and Brisbane prop Matt Lodge looks likely to attract post-match scrutiny.
Flanagan appeared to catch Lodge with a knee to the head and the Bronco lashed out with his foot.
The early buzz centred around 18-year-old Broncos winger and debutant Xavier Coates, who flew above Morris to score a spectacular opening try of the game.
He almost had another later in the half after another aerial duel with Morris, but was ruled to have knocked on.
kimboinbrisbane
Roar Rookie
End of first paragraph should read Cronulla, not Brisbane!
Albo
Roar Rookie
Gutsy win by the young Broncos considering the number of outs they had and then losing their best player at halftime in O'Sullivan ? But their young forwards especially in Pangai & Haas really stepped up in the 2nd half and got the young Broncos home when the Sharks eased up after the Morris hat trick. Still not sure why Haas is not playing for NSW on Wednesday night ? He is an awesome talent.
Succhi
Roar Rookie
Good win for the Broncos. Sharks have got too many over paid egos.
Kurt S
Roar Pro
With 20 minutes to go, Segeyaro put McCullough into space and the guy nearly came to a stop and surrender tackle by fullback Morris. What happened to pinning the ears back and trying to get around the man? Broncos effort has been terrible since they played the Cows at the start of the year. There have been so many instances this season of no one jumping on loose balls, falling off tackles and just general lack off effort.
kimboinbrisbane
Roar Rookie
The author mentioned Cronulla losing 2 players, but for some reason has neglected to mention that Brisbane lost their halfback O’Sullivan at half time and then their centre Shibasaki. When you look at the replacement options available to both teams, which team was in a worse position? I don’t think it was Brisbane. Lodge should have nothing to fear. Flanagan & Woods with the use of their knees in the same incident against Lodge should pay a price, but probably won’t.