Brisbane Broncos vs South Sydney Rabbitohs 1989 Lang Park Round 15
8 Internationals missing, 2 of them injured the others on rep duty the Broncos fielded another patch up side full of reserve grade players and a few experienced players. Pretty scrappy game really, ball handling was poor from both sides at times, particularly from the Broncos and their defense at times allowed Souths plenty of holes to work with.
Broncos received the ball on kick off, hit it up pretty strong but then a penalty is given against the Broncos for being in front of the kicker which sees South's 5/8th Phil Blake score an excellent try early to give them a 4-0 lead. Broncos work hard after the try and french makes a small break, puts in a grubber near the try line but its cleaned up before the try line. The Broncos at times look strong in defence and at other times welcome mats are out for Souths to exploit but struggle to take advantage of them for now, Phil Blake(try saving tackles stopping him) and Les Davidson(bending the line at will, making breaks but losing the ball in the process) are cutting the Broncos to shreds.
About 11 minutes in Terry Matterson kicks for touch from a penalty, doesn't find touch about 30 metres into Souths territory however rebounds off a souths player into the in goal and ends up rolling over the in goal and ends up a line dropout for the Broncos, very funny to see. Plowman, Matterson, Tronc, Donnelly, hit it up hard, Dowling gets the ball and gives Renouf an outstanding offload but Renouf absolutely bombs it with the tryline right there. 22 minutes in French puts in a grubber that sees plenty of Broncos players converging in goal but somehow fail to score what should have been a certain try and Coleman manages to get out amazingly. 4-0 and the Broncos are their own worst enemies, looking dangerous in the first half but just letting themselves down in the ball handling. Broncos starting to get some polish and then French puts in an excellent grubber for a well placed Conescu to score to make it 4-4. Matterson manages to convert and the Broncos lead 6-4. Souths make a huge break down right hand side but somehow fumble it at the end and R Teevan manages to clean it up. Not long after Souths repeat this and Teevan again cleans up in pretty much the same fashion. Souths eventually get a penalty and its 6-6 at halftime, hard game to read at halftime. Should the Broncos be ahead but their mistakes letting them down or are Souths keeping them in the game?
Second half and the Broncos receive an early penalty, French kicks for touch, finds it but means little cause the Broncos again find a way to make a mess of it, then Souths get into the Broncos half and receive a penalty that gives Souths the opportunity to make it 8-6 which they take. Broncos are playing too much side to side football in their half now, giving Souths good field position and again Blake nearly makes them pay for it with a superb break nearing the touchline but unluckily puts a foot on the touchline. Kick from Rix has been charged down by Coleman, they send it wide, Roberts manages an offload to Neville to Adam O'Neill to score in the corner for an excellent try, Souths fail to convert and its 12-6. Souths knock on early in the kick return and then an offside penalty against Souths gives the Broncos an opportunity to make it 12-8. Then Rix on the last tackle manages to kick it dead, giving Souths a golden opportunity in the Broncos half but the Broncos hold on for that set. Broncos are struggling to get out of their own half but do manage to make it deep into the Souths half but to no avail because French puts up a bomb that sees the ball on the next flight to sydney. A couple of sets later, French is on the halfline, puts in a desperate chip kick on the last tackle, regathers and sends Gittins into gap on the outside but is desperately tackled on the last to save a try. Souths long kicking game has been superior, finding plenty of open space and touch line. A mistake early on a kick return by the Broncos leads to Souths having the ball, Matterson cops a forearm to the throat and responds with plenty of punches, sees the Broncos concede an easy 2 points to Souths and its 14-8. Souths well and truely on top, Brisbane stuck deep in their own half and Souths with all the ball possession, Phil Blake makes a dummy half run, puts in a chip and chase, regathers and scores a great try under the posts, 18-8, converted and its 20-8. After that the match is pretty much a slogfest, Broncos getting belted just trying to get out of their half, Souths too much on top to lose this and it ends up 20-8 to Souths.
Phil Blake a worthy man of the match by far, outstanding effort in a rather meh game.
(couldn't find reserve listings sorry)
Broncos:
2. R Teevan
15. K Gittins
3. S Renouf
4. C Johns
5. J Kilroy
6. G French
7. G Rix
8. G Dowling
9 G Conescu
10. S Tronc
27. J Donnelly
12. B Plowman
13. T Matterson
Souths:
1. B Djura
41. S Mavin
3. P Roberts
19. D Neville
5. R Harrington
6. P Blake (C)
7. C Coleman
8. M Lyons
9. J Serdaris
10. D Boyle
11. L Davidson
12. W Chisholm
13. M Andrews