Brisbane Broncos tightened their grip on a top four spot with their 32-10 win over Sydney Roosters at the Gabba on Thursday night.
The Broncos did all their damage in the first half, leading 20-0 at the break against a Roosters side which was coming off a big win. Ezra Maam led the way with a double for the hosts in an important two points.
Brisbane were on the front foot from the opening whistle. The hosts opened the scoring through Herbie Farnsworth. The centre shrugged off defenders and stretched out to plant the ball down to make it 6-0.
They went for a set piece to extend the lead to a dozen. Reece Walsh put the kick right on the spot for five-eighth Ezra Maam to take it in stride and dive over as the Broncos looked to punish the Roosters.
Broncos put their advantage to out to 14 from the tee. There was a coming together between the two sides and the Broncos halfback slotted the resulting penalty goal to give them a comfortable margin.
There was a try which sent social media (or what is left of it) into a frenzy. Reynolds took on the line, found a trailing Patrick Carrigan who strolled over to break his try-scoring drought in the NRL and give the Broncos a 20-0 lead at the break.
The second half was more of an arm wrestle between the two sides. Brisbane went close through interchange player Tyson Smoothy who was tackled incidently by referee Grant Atkins before he could touch down.
Roosters did pull one back through Billy Smith. The high kick was directed well towards Daniel Tupou then pinballed down to Smith who had the easiest four-pointer and gave the tri-colours some hope.
That was extingushed immediately. Lindsay Collins dropped it from the kick-off, which allowed Kotoni Staggs to stroll over after he had an earlier score chalked off due to being called offside by the bunker.
In a game to forget, there is one moment of history for the Roosters. Luke Keary saw space on the outside, chipped a kick right into the chest of Daniel Tupou to score and become the Roosters leading try-scorer.
Brisbane had one final party piece to make it 32-10. Billy Smith tried to create something for the Roosters from the boot, it went straight to Mam who had a walk in the park to pick up his second four-pointer and round off a successful trip to the Gabba.