A clinical second half display from the Brisbane Broncos has seen them continue their perfect start to the season by defeating the New Zealand Warriors 25-10 at Suncorp Stadium.
Broncos v Warriors: Five key points
Oates purpose-built for Origin: Boyd
Warriors suffer as fatigue kicks in
Brisbane kept New Zealand scoreless in the second half after a tight first half contest.
The Broncos' defence continues to improve and they have now kept opposition teams to under 20 points in 10 straight games – a club record.
Brisbane were boosted with the inclusion of Jordan Kahu before kick-off and the New Zealand International never missed a beat.
Anthony Milford played one of his best games as a five-eighth as he involved himself in almost all of the Broncos' scoring plays.
The second half started poorly for New Zealand as they lost Blake Ayshford to a head knock and Manu Vatuvei with a rib injury in close succession.
Brisbane jumped on the opportunity as Ben Hunt put Darius Boyd through a gaping hole to cross five metres in from touch in the 54th minute – Kahu converted to make the score 18-10 in the Broncos favour.
Brisbane's second half dominance continued in the 64th minute as Hunt threw a beautiful ball to put a barnstorming Matt Gillett in to the right of the posts – the lead now 12.
Corey Oates' night ended in the 70th minute as he was rocked by a monster hit and suffered a severe shoulder injury.
Milford sealed the win in the 74th minute as he calmly slotted a field goal to send the 35,000+ crowd into raptures.
He then slotted a penalty goal in the 78th minute to give Brisbane a 25-10 win.
Earlier, the scoring opened in the 3rd minute after the Warriors gave up back to back penalties to give Brisbane an easy penalty kick for goal straight in front of the posts.
The penalties continued and Brisbane capitalised in the 7th minute as a slick backline move by Alex Glenn and Anthony Milford put Corey Oates over in the corner to make the score 6-0.
A slick dummy-half run from Isaac Luke in the 17th minute got the Warriors back in it as he scored under the posts to make it 6-all.
New Zealand hit an 8-6 lead in the 28th minute on the back of a Shaun Johnson penalty goal.
Brisbane benefited immensely from Jack Reed's return from injury as Milford put him through a hole in the 32nd minute.
Reed collected the ball on the 40 metre line then dummied and beat a number of defenders to muscle his way over the line and make the score 12-8 in Brisbane's favour.
Johnson slotted a penalty goal with ease on halftime and the topsy-turvy half ended 12-10 in Brisbane's favour.
Brisbane Broncos 25 (Corey Oates, Jack Reed, Darius Boyd, Matt Gillett tries; Corey Parker 2, Jordan Kahu, Anthony Milford goals) def. New Zealand Warriors 10 (Isaac Luke tries; Shaun Johnson 3 goals) at Suncorp Stadium. Crowd: 35,230
