Parramatta came to Suncorp Stadium with a plan to silence the parochial crowd but thousands were still to take their seat when Kirisome Auva'a swept on an Adam Blair error to score after just 12 seconds.
Broncos fans could have been forgiven for stumbling down the stadium steps on the way to their seat such was their shock at what had transpired, Blair's offload to no one allowing Auva'a to sweep in, touch down and smash the record for the fastest try ever scored in NRL history.
That didn't take long!#NRLBroncosEels #NRL pic.twitter.com/mE5cyqjc8a
— NRL (@NRL) August 24, 2017
The previous best was a try to Reece Robinson after just 33 seconds while playing for the Raiders against Penrith in Round 10, 2014 but Mitchell Moses's deep kick-off, the ferocity of the Parramatta defence to greet Blair on the 10-metre line and the awareness of Auva'a to pounce on the loose ball created a record that may never be broken.
Auva'a had no knowledge that he had created a piece of rugby league history before revealing that keeping the Brisbane fans among the 29,058 in attendance quiet was all part of their plan.
"That's something that my name will be stuck next to, something to brag about to my mates," said Auva'a, a 2014 premiership winner with South Sydney who joined the Eels this season.
"That was probably the perfect start to a game leading up to the finals.
"We spoke about that coming into tonight. We know that they get a really good crowd and they're passionate fans up here so that was part of the plan, to shut the crowd out.
"They were probably still buying some beers," the 25-year-old joked.
Parramatta capitalised on the incredible start to the game by adding three further tries in the first 20 minutes – all to Semi Radradra who scored a fourth early in the second half – and went on to score 52 points against a team that boasted the second best defence heading into Round 25.
Despite a win that catapulted them into the top four, Parramatta coach Brad Arthur was livid that his side allowed four second half tries and even Auva'a acknowledged the need to turn that area around before the start of the finals series.
"Definitely if we dish that up going into the finals we probably wouldn't last long so definitely something to work on," he said.
"Once we got the momentum we just ran with it. It was unfortunate the way we finished the game so that's something we've got to look through during the week and work on."
