Broncos bulldoze Warriors 26-10 - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Broncos bulldoze Warriors 26-10

By Tamara McLean 28/03/2009 10:23:10 PM Comments (0)

Brisbane shot to the top of the NRL table with a convincing 26-10 win over the Warriors on Saturday as the New Zealand side lost star centre Brent Tate for the rest of the season.

The Broncos dominated the game from the outset, running in five tries to two in front of a 24,350-strong parochial Warriors crowd to maintain their perfect start to the season.

The Queenslanders become the only side to win three from three this season.

The Warriors, who had been unbeaten at home for seven games, took an added hit with the loss of former Bronco Tate, who suffered an anterior crucial ligament injury to his right knee in the first half.

"He's very upset," Warriors skipper Steve Price said of his brother-in-law Tate, who suffered a similar season-ending injury in 2007.

"He's been through it before. It nearly destroyed him last time and he knows he's got to go through it again."

Broncos coach Ivan Henjak said he had been "quietly confident" his side could upset the Warriors, who firmed into premiership favourites last week.

"I was really pleased with the defence but was also pretty happy with some of the things we did with the footy as well," Henjak said.

"It's good to be three and zero but things can change pretty quickly.

"We're not going to get carried away with that."

Skipper Darren Lockyer said the match was the closest his side had come to playing good football in 2009.

The Broncos stormed out of the blocks with halfback Peter Wallace engineering the first try for prop Joel Clinton in the 12th minute, and quickly setting up another with a cut out pass to centre Steve Michaels.

Hulking Broncos centre Israel Folau scored late in the first half to give his side a 16-0 halftime lead.

The blitzing continued into the second half, with tries to utility Alex Glenn and Lockyer before Warriors Simon Mannering and Ukuma Ta'ai scored two four pointers late in the piece.

But it was too little against a side coach Ivan Cleary labelled as "brilliant".

"They were too good for us, mate," Cleary said.

"We were flat. We were just off the pace and they were on it."

Clearly said his side was suffering from the turnaround from last Sunday's win at Manly and a growing injury list, which also includes Lance Hohaia (knee), Manu Vatuvei (knee) and Ben Matalino (ankle).

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