Eels shocked by blistering Broncos
by Chris Cox
Sunday April 10, 2005

The doom and gloom of last Saturday's debacle in Melbourne seemed a distant memory as the Broncos annihilated Parramatta 54-14 at Suncorp Stadium. 

On a warm afternoon following several days of rain, the Broncos had the 25000 fans on their feet at half time going to the break 42-0 ahead, beating the clock at more than a point per minute.

The Broncos' 7 first half tries were brilliant to watch, and all but two were started from around the halfway mark. Parramatta trudged off the field shellshocked and never recovered.

David Stagg started the carnage when he supported centre Shaun Berrigan, who broke straight through Ashley Graham on half way, drawing fullback Luke Burt before passing to the ever present back rower to score his second try of the season.

Five minutes later, Stagg was in the action again, offloading to Shaun Berrigan who juggled before offloading to Darren Lockyer with wide open spaces in front of him. Lockyer drew the fullback and this time hooker Barry Berrigan loomed to score.  Lockyer missed the conversion but it was 10-0 after as many minutes.

From the next set of six Seymour showed good footwork to step past Glenn Morrison before passing on to lock Tonie Carroll to score.  Lockyer's conversion made it 16-0 and the Eels were stunned. Coach Brian Smith replaced the entire front row in an attempt to tighten up the ruck.  It didn't work.

Not long after Karmichael Hunt made a brilliant incision 20 metres out before offloading to Brent Tate to score.  Lockyer's conversion made it 22-0.

Five minutes later Tate was supporting another offload, this time from big Brad Thorn, whose return from rugby union is proving a revelation. Lockyer converted again for a 28-0 lead.  It became 30-0 moments later when Lockyer picked up a loose ball and ran 60 metres before being dragged down by Eric Grothe Jnr just short of the line. The Eels never recovered and conceded a penalty right in front. Lockyer made no mistake.

The try of the match came from the set of six after the kick off, with Hunt taking an inside ball from Lockyer on the last and charging up field. With his opposite fullback coming across, Hunt sent a brilliant flick pass to Shaun Berrigan who offloaded to Stagg, who had been taken out by Morrison without the ball.  The loose ball was scooped up by halfback Seymour who scored under the posts.

Right on half time, Tate charged onto an offload from Corey Parker, before drawing Burt in and passing to flying winger Leon Bott to score his first try on home soil, and the first half rout of 42-0 was complete.

The Eels' heads were down, and they dropped further just after half time when Seymour sliced through again and found interchange utility Casey McGuire in support to score under the posts.  Lockyer converted yet again for a 48-0 lead.

The match degenerated somewhat from that point, with 20 minutes passing before Luke Burt won the race to a John Morris kick down field from a scrum win. Moments later the Broncos finally delivered their fans the 50-points they so dearly craved when Thorn amazingly grubbered ahead for Lockyer to regather and pass to winger Scott Minto who slid over to score.

The Eels scored two late consolation tries in the corner to Minto's opposite, Grothe, but it was merely to give the Eels the small victory of winning the second half 14-12. The Broncos had clocked off, with Lockyer, Webcke and Carroll making up a star studded bench.

To label the Broncos' 2005 performance so far as a Jekyll and Hyde effort would be an understatement.  This result marked an 86-point turnaround from last weekend's disaster in Melbourne, and proves that the margin between success and failure is so slim in this competition that anyone can beat anyone else - and a below par performance can result in a thrashing.

It was a great team effort from the Broncos, with Brad Thorn, Shane Webcke, Darren Lockyer, Brent Tate, Brett Seymour and David Stagg particularly impressive.  Petero Civoniceva, Barry Berrigan, Corey Parker and Tonie Carroll were also fantastic up front, while Shaun Berrigan, Scott Minto and Leon Bott caused their problems out wide.

The Eels have little to gain from dissecting this performance, with few players' reputations remaining intact. They will also face some judiciary anxiety with Glenn Morrison and Aaron Cannings likely to face censure over a dangerous throw on Carroll just prior to Tate's second try.