Broncos winger Kerri Johnson scored a double on her NRLW debut as Brisbane opened its campaign with a 28-4 win over Wests Tigers on Saturday afternoon.
Tigers winger Caitlin Turnbull crossed for a debut try of her own in the 24th minute to level the scores, but the Broncos responded with five unanswered tries to run away with an emphatic win in Brisbane.
Queensland State of Origin star Tamika Upton set up the first of Johnson’s tries with a line break from Brisbane’s half of the field.
The gun fullback sliced through the Tigers’ defensive line with a dummy, a left-hand fend and a sudden change of pace, before drawing her opposite number and passing to Johnson, who raced away to score.
“She must have just gotten that when she went to Brisbane,” Millie Elliott, a former teammate of Upton’s at the Knights, said of her fend on the Nine broadcast.
“She’s got the skinniest arms you’ll ever see.
“To set her winger up there, Kerri Johnson, on debut, it’s just unreal.”
With eight minutes remaining in the match and Brisbane leading 18-4, barnstorming Broncos centre Mele Hufanga hurtled over to score on the back of a Jada Ferguson chip to put the result beyond doubt.
But prior to that Hufanga try, the Kiwi was twice denied in the second half by phenomenal goal-line defence.
On the first occasion, Losana Lutu and Kezie Apps did superbly to hold her up on the Broncos’ left edge.
And shortly after, Turnbull and Evie McGrath combined to shut out a pulverising Hufanga carry closer to the posts.
The second of the defensive efforts was particularly impressive.
Superb goal-line defence denies barnstorming Bronco
“No way!” said former NRLW star Allana Ferguson on the Nine coverage.
“How? Tamika Upton hit another gear, and Mele Hufanga, well that’s full-throttle.”
Rugby league great Ruan Sims said on Nine: “Mele Hufanga was in for all money, and they just descended on her and managed to turn her over again and turn her away.”
Ferguson added: “It’s something that not a lot of players can do on Mele Hufanga. It’s that first-up contact they get right. Look at this — she is absolutely gassing it. That’s huge, huge defence.”
The Tigers and Bulldogs will open round two in Campbelltown on Thursday night, while the Broncos are set to face the Titans on the Gold Coast next Sunday afternoon.
