The Brisbane Broncos held off a spirited Wests Tigers outfit at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night, though the 46-24 victory came at a high injury cost.
Jesse Arthars and Xavier Willison starred for the hosts, scoring doubles, but the result was soured with Adam Reynolds ruled out of the clash in the 46th minute with a hamstring injury before Brendan Piakura was knocked out cold in an incident.
Starford To’a also chalked up a double for the Tigers as the visitors threatened in the opening half.
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Adam Reynolds watching on from the sideline after suffering a hamstring injury against the Tigers. Getty
After scoring a try from a chip and chase in the 44th minute, Reynolds drilled the conversion.
But the 34-year-old pulled up ginger from the kick and immediately signalled to the bench that he wanted to come from the field.
Making his way straight down the tunnel, replays showed that Reynolds hurt his hammy taking the conversion.
In a positive sign, he was later seen on the exercise bike, and all reports pointed towards hamstring tightness rather than something more sinister.
“Feels alright, just a little bit tight,” Reynolds told Fox League post-match.
“I felt it grab, so I’ll do all the necessary stuff after the game — get a scan tomorrow and make sure it’s all good — but pretty sure I’ll be there next week.”
Reynolds only featured in 13 games last season after suffering a minor hamstring tear and neck injury that required surgery.
Adam Reynolds came from the field with a hamstring concern after converting his own try early in the second half against the Tigers. Fox Sports
Arthars opened the scoring in the fourth minute. However, the try was not without controversy as replays showed the centre may have bobbled the put-down in the in-goal.
The Bunker reviewed the grounding, keeping an eye on Sunia Turuva in the play, but awarded the try.
The Tigers responded 10 minutes later through teen prodigy Luke Laulilii.
Off the first tackle, fellow teen star Lachlan Galvin put in a pinpoint grubber for Laulilii to score in the corner.
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Broncos second-rower Piakura became the latest player to be sent to the sin bin during round four’s crackdown on high contact, given a spell for a high shot on Tigers prop Terrell May.
Piakura appeared to leave the ground in the tackle, making direct contact with moderate force to May’s head.
“I know it is crackdown weekend, but that was hard to argue with,” Dane Ginnane said in commentary for Fox League.
The Tigers soon scored consecutive tries through Sunia Turuva and To’a.
Jahream Bula had a hand in each, first running through the line to set up Turuva for a long-range try after a Broncos drop-out caught out the hosts’ defenders.
Bula then put in a pass to To’a.
The Broncos soon hit back through Xavier Willison, who, from dummy half, reached out and grounded the ball on the line.
At half time, the Broncos led the Tigers 14-12 after Reynolds scored a two-point field goal to steal the lead.
Picking up where he left off, Willison quickly nabbed his second to kick-start the second 40.
Xavier Willison celebrates after scoring a try. Getty
Minutes later, Reynolds reeled in his chip to score under the posts before disaster struck the injury-prone halfback.
Tigers halfback Sione Fainu muscled over the tryline to score, but the Brocons quickly replied as Arthars was put over a second time.
To’a crossed again but was later reprimanded for a professional foul. He was marched to the sin bin at full time as Reece Walsh slotted the penalty goal after the final siren.
In scary scenes with minutes to go, Piakura was knocked out while putting a tackle on Alex Twal.
Piakura got his head in the wrong spot and his head made heavy contact with Twal’s hip.
The 22-year-old came from the field on a medicab but Reynolds later said he sitting up and talking in the sheds.
