ROUND FOUR MATCH REPORT | Brisbane Broncos 0-59 Sydney Roosters

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 Lachy MacCorquodale reviews the round four clash between the Brisbane Broncos and the Sydney Roosters. Here’s how the game went.

MATCH TIMELINE

MATCH SUMMARY

1st Half

News broke this afternoon that Sydney Roosters fullback James Tedesco would miss tonight’s clash after waking up feeling unwell, but that didn’t stop the Roosters from grabbing early points with makeshift fullback Brett Morris giving a great offload away for his brother Josh to score his first try in the Tricolours. It only took another five minutes for the Roosters to add to their tally, as they took advantage of an overlap on the right edge with Joseph Manu scoring easily. It continued to be a tough start for the Broncos with Roosters lock Victor Radley crashing over under the posts in a fairly poor defensive effort from the home side, extending the lead to 16 in the opening 20 minutes. Only moments later, the Broncos came very close to putting points on the board with Corey Oates being denied a four-pointer by Roosters workhorse Brett Morris.

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Another error from the Broncos, their fifth of the night, allowed the Roosters to have a full set in the Broncos’ half, and as expected the defending premiers capitalised on the error with Angus Crichton crossing over to add further salt into the Broncos’ wounds. There was another missed opportunity from the Broncos after a great chip kick from Brodie Croft was put down by Darius Boyd in the in goal. The very next set the Roosters made them pay as they cruised down the field with Radley making a break 20 metres out from the line and put Kyle Flanagan over the line for his first of the night. Brett Morris crossed over with five minutes to go but the Bunker disallowed the try, believing that there was enough evidence of an obstruction by Boyd Cordner on Brodie Croft. Just when you thought that the point scoring was over for the half, Luke Keary decided to take a field goal attempt in the final seconds of the half, which sailed in between the posts to extend the lead to 29.

2nd Half

After 70 per cent of the possession in the first half, the Roosters were not expected to take their foot off the pedal. It only took them five minutes to score their first try of the half with the Broncos defensive line waiting for the attackers to get to them, and it allowed Isaac Liu to step his way through the line and give a pass off to Keary who ran under the posts untouched. The Broncos were just managing to hold the Roosters off after a multitude of sets defending their own line and things became worse when Jesse Arthars was sent to the bin for a professional foul. The Roosters made the most of the 13 v 12 advantage with a try to Lindsay Collins after he blasted onto a good pass from Keary to run under the posts untouched, taking them to 40 points.

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The Roosters continued their onslaught with Angus Crichton grabbing his second of the night as he burrowed his way under two defenders on the right edge. A night to forget for all Broncos fans.

The Roosters cracked 50 points with nine minutes remaining with a nice play through the hands which saw Daniel Tupou cross, becoming the eighth Roosters player to score. The night was almost too perfect for the Roosters; their first lowlight of the night was Radley being taken from the field with an apparent elbow/shoulder injury. However, this didn’t stop the Roosters on their quest for 60, courtesy of a great offload from Josh Morris to Keary, who passed it off to Brett Morris as he strolled over for his first try of the night. Kyle Flanagan’s conversion took the score past the 58 points that the Broncos conceded against Parramatta in last year’s final series.

GAME HIGHLIGHT

In a match that resulted in a 59-point thrashing, there’s not too many highlights to choose from due to the one-sided nature of this affair, but it was a dominant display from the defending premiers who have now turned their season around after their two losses to start the season. The Tricolours had 64 per cent of the possession for the matches and completed a whole 19 more sets than their counterparts did. They ran for over twice as many metres and pretty much doubled the Broncos in any of the team stats outside of the defensive stats.

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There wasn’t a single star for the Roosters as all 17 of them benefitted from playing in this fixture and their elite forward pack reaped the rewards of the 19 extra sets that they completed. Seven of the side’s eight forwards ran for more than 100 metres; the player who didn’t was Nat Butcher who still managed 81 metres in his 16 minutes on the park. Three out of the seven players who surpassed 100 run metres finished with over 200 metres for the game: Lindsay Collins (272), Boyd Cordner (204) and Siosiua Taukeiaho (215). All in all it was one of the most dominant displays that we have seen recently, and the Broncos have a tough week of training coming up after a two week combined score of 93-6.

SQUADS

Brisbane Broncos: 1. Jamayne Isaako 2. Corey Oates 3. Jesse Arthars 4. Darius Boyd 5. Herbie Farnworth 6. Anthony Milford 7. Brodie Croft 8. Thomas Flegler 18. Cory Paix 10. Payne Haas 11. Ethan Bullemor 12. Jamil Hopoate 13. Patrick Carrigan. Interchange: 14. Tesi Niu 15. Joe Ofahengaue 16. Rhys Kennedy 17. Matthew Lodge.

Sydney Roosters: 5. Brett Morris 2. Daniel Tupou 3. Josh Morris 4. Joseph Manu 20. Ryan Hall 6. Luke Keary 7. Kyle Flanagan 8. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves 9. Jake Friend 18. Siosiua Taukeiaho 11. Boyd Cordner 12. Angus Crichton 13. Victor Radley. Interchange: 10. Lindsay Collins 14. Sam Verrills 15. Isaac Liu 16. Nat Butcher.