Broncos help Petero celebrate
June 23, 2012 17:23:41 UK
Brisbane Broncos helped Petero Civoniceva celebrate his 300th first-grade match with a 26-12 win over the Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium on Friday.
The Broncos, who are 5657.00 to win the grand final, trailed by two points at the break, but produced four second-half tries to make it a special night for the retiring legend.
Forwards Corey Parker (54 tackles and 17 runs for 133 metres) and Josh McGuire (40 tackles and 14 runs for 117 metres) stood tall for Brisbane while Peter Wallace again dictated how the match would be played out with precision kicking and positional play.
Bench forward Matt Gillett stated his claim for reselection in Mal Meninga's Queensland side with a damaging display, including a robust battle with Dave Taylor.
Taylor (37 tackles and 14 runs for 127 metres) played himself to standstill with his Maroons jumper on the line but was again guilty of making unforced errors and giving away penalties.
One Maroon who did not disappoint was Greg Inglis. With Billy Slater set to miss Origin III, Inglis made a statement to the Queensland selectors with a series of brutal hits at the back.
A Souths error allowed the first try of the match. A Wallace grubber sat up nicely in the Souths in-goal but winger Justin Hunt went straight over the top of the ball, leaving it for Justin Hodges to fall on and open the scoring after 21 minutes.
Inglis' terrorising defence had fired the Rabbitohs up and with two minutes to go they hit back. Ben Te'o inexplicably flew out of the Broncos' line leaving a gaping hole which Chris McQueen ran into before jinking past Gillett and Hoffman to level the scores.
The Broncos were first on the board in the second half when Alex Glenn latched on to a low-trajectory kick from Wallace and slammed down next to the posts for his eighth try of the season.
Souths hit back when Merritt snatched a Norman pass on his own 10-metre line and ran the length of the field for a scorching intercept try, but that was the last time the Sydney team would trouble the scorers.
Dale Copley crossed in the corner on the end of a sweeping move which included a pair of dubious passes and the match was gone.
Norman scored off a freakish double kick from Andrew McCullough before Te'o charged over from close range in the dying stages.
To the delight of the 33,602 fans, Civoniceva was given the chance to convert the Te'o try but hooked the ball across the face of goal.
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