Brisbane have delivered a superb defensive performance to upset fourth-placed Cronulla 16-7 at Suncorp Stadium.
The Broncos kept the Sharks scoreless after the break, backing their defence and completing high once get to get over the line after early second half tries from Herbie Farnworth and Kurt Capewell.
It was an exercise in defending with and without the ball. Along with making their tackles and keeping their shape, Brisbane continually forced Cronulla to go the length of the field, often opting to run on the last to keep the ball in play and avoid any seven tackle sets.
The pre-match narrative had been focussed on how Kotoni Staggs, the Broncos’ star centre, would deal with the rampaging Siosifa Talakai – and there was only one winner.
The first confrontation of the day, when Staggs met Talakai with forced and pushed him backwards, set the tone.
Staggs score a crucial try to level the scores late in the second half and twice stopped his direct opponent with the line at his mercy – once, late in the game, with the help of Selwyn Cobbo to snuff out any chance of a comeback.
On the other side of the field, Herbie Farnworth and Kurt Capewell grabbed tries while Adam Reynolds was at his organisational best and Tyson Gamble, recently the third choice five eighth, produced perhaps his best performance in a Broncos shirt.
For Craig Fitzgibbon, there will be questions about the level of fatigue in the side as connections seemed clunky and errors crept in. 57% of the ball in the first half for just seven points will be very disappointing.
Their failure to cope well with scoreboard pressure after the break will also be a worry, though that came with the caveat of facing excellent Broncos defence.
It wasn’t a vintage start. Aside from a few collisions, there was little to report other than that both teams struggled to keep hold of the football.
For twenty minutes, this was a very low quality game with Cronulla in particular profligate, throwing forward passes, dropping the football and conceding penalties.
For their part, the Broncos created nearly nothing with their ball and, before Matt Moylan opened the scoring, there had only been seven tackles in either red zone.
The closest that anyone had come was a Will Kennedy break, but when Cronulla sought to shift to their strike centre, Talakai dropped the ball.
Moylan’s opener was the first piece of true quality. He picked the ball up on the last with nothing on, grubbered for himself and touched down.
The Staggs-Talakai battle then threatened to burst into life at one end – the Brisbane centre stopping his counterpart yards from the line – before first blood was drawn at the other.
Tyson Gamble, his radar always shaky at NRL level, managed to find it to get Staggs good early ball and he used his positional nous as a centre to expose the Sharks superstar stand-in, racing on the outside to score.
Staggs converted his own try from the touchline, deputising after Adam Reynolds had departed with a badly bust nose, before Nicho Hynes booted a field goal with seconds running out on the first period for a 7-6 lead at the break.
The centres continued to shine after the break, but on the other side. Gamble again was the creator, taking space created by a pass from the returned Reynolds and engaging Jesse Ramien long enough to put Herbie Farnworth in.
It got better yet. Corey Oates carried the ball 50m out of the Broncos’ defensive end before Kurt Capewell found himself one-on-one with Hynes and made the most of the size difference.
The Broncos were playing almost the perfect half of footy. They completed at 100% for the first 25 after the break, ran hard out of their own end and made Cronulla work for every metre.
The Sharks failed to ask enough questions with the ball, and the Broncos were happy to play conservatively and take time off the clock.
When Brisbane did get to the opposing end, they often opted to run on the last and surrender the ball and force the Sharks to go the length.
They managed it with a minute to go, but Staggs delayed Talakai long enough for Selwyn Cobbo to join in and hold the Sharks centre up.
It was emblematic: the Broncos defence won the day.