Dragons gas Tevita Pangai Jr with wide passing tactics
Pauline Hanson will tell you that a week is a long time in politics. Tevita Pangai Jr can attest that in rugby league six days is even longer, writes MIKE COLMAN.
Broncos
Don't miss out on the headlines from Broncos. Followed categories will be added to My News.
MATCH REPORT: Ex-Bronco breaks Brisbane hearts
Pauline Hanson will tell you that a week is a long time in politics. Tevita Pangai Jr can attest that in rugby league six days is even longer.
On Friday against the Cowboys Pangai was the Incredible Hulk punching away the little bad guys who made him angry in an Avengers film.
At times last night against the Dragons he was more mild mannered Bruce Banner.
Maybe it was the pressure of being labelled the new Jason Taumalolo during the week, or maybe he’d worn himself out staying up late to update his scrap-book.
More likely it was the way the Dragons threw the ball wide at every opportunity in order to tire out the Broncos forwards on the heavy Suncorp Stadium surface.
Early on it looked to be working a treat.
Dragons centre Euan Aitken had tipped his team’s hand by predicting the Broncos halves would “crack” under pressure but not even he would have thought it would happen so soon.
Within seconds of the kick-off Aitken pushed off Brisbane number six Anthony Milford and set off up the sideline. If his flick pass to Mikaele Ravalawa hadn’t gone astray it would have been a try.
It proved only a minor delay for the visitors, with Dragons hooker Cameron McInnes evading a fatigued-looking Pangai 25 metres out and darting for the line with prop James Graham in support.
The only person in the stadium who didn’t know that Graham wasn’t going to get the ball was Darius Boyd. (If there were any doubts, the sight of Graham waving his arms, screaming “noooo …” and pointing to the tryline should have been a dead-set giveaway.)
Even so, Boyd bought the dummy and it was 6-0 after five minutes.
Six minutes later Ben Hunt, the Broncos’ ex son-in-law, reversed the play to put Jordan Pereira over after Pangai had given away a penalty in the play-the-ball.
The Dragons were so far the better team that it would have been almost unfair if they weren’t ahead at halftime.
Which is pretty much how it happened. You’d have to be a completely one-eyed Broncos supporter to think that there wasn’t a Jack Bird strip in the lead-up to Corey Oates try.
Luckily there were about 20,000 of them at Suncorp who couldn’t see the slightest thing wrong with it.
If Oates’ try was controversial the Broncos’ next four-pointer was sensational.
Is there a better sight in rugby league than Jimmy The Jet (“The Player Formerly Known As James Roberts”) in full flight? Except if you’re chasing him I mean.
Almost implausibly, the Broncos were ahead 12-10 at the break.
A converted try to Ravalawa saw the Dragons back in front but if Aitken was expecting the Broncos to crack then, he’d have to wait.
Alex Glenn, on his season-long job application, added a try to his CV and Brisbane crept to 18-all.
Which is when it got real exciting. Last week the usual Broncos-Cowboys heart-stopping finish was a fizzer. This week made up for it.
First Jamayne Isaako dropped a sitter, then ex-Bronco Korbin Sims caught Pangai out of position and crashed over next to the posts to go six points clear.
Broncos crack? Not likely. Boyd toed and chased a loose ball that was dived on by Gareth Widdop.
As Boyd tried to drag Widdop into the in-goal the Englishman looked to dislocate his shoulder and dropped the ball for the reborn Jack Bird to score. The extras from Jamayne Isaako tied it up at 24-all.
Isaako had the chance to kick the winning field goal but the pass came to him low and off target. He struck his kick well but it veered away to the right.
It was left to yet another former Bronco, Corey Norman, to deliver the coup de grace to his old team with 12 seconds left.
The Dragons leapt for joy. The Broncos sunk to their haunches shattered.
It will be little comfort, but they didn’t crack.
And it’s on again next week.
Originally published as Dragons gas Tevita Pangai Jr with wide passing tactics
Baby Broncos blitz Bears as Madge era starts with shutout
Brisbane’s Michael Maguire era has started with a bang, with a rising star impressing as the Broncos proved too strong for the Burleigh Bears in their first pre-season trial.
‘I dug my heels in’: The Bronco who refused to walk away
On the outer with former coach Kevin Walters, Cory Paix was told he was free to leave the Broncos, but the nuggety rake refused to walk, and now under a new coach his 526-day NRL exile looks set to end.