We thought for a moment that we had switched on a replay of the first Bledisloe Cup series when we saw the 52 – 34 final score in front of our eyes, but it turned out to be the Parramatta Eels doing an All Blacks number on the Brisbane Broncos.
That sort of result does little in the way of keeping the Broncos’ premiership hope alive in the 2017 NRL Telstra Premiership competition. The fact that they suffered the embarrassment on their Suncorp Stadium home ground only compounded the misery.
The mark has been set and the future target established for which NRL team can score the fastest try. It took the Eels all of 11 seconds to slip across the line, as they took full advantage of an opening play blunder from prop Adam Blair. It was the fastest try in the history of the NRL, so for any side who wants to better the Eels’ achievement, 10 seconds is what it will take. Kirisome Auva was the player whose name will be attached to the mark.
Semi Radradra got into the act to the degree where that by the end of the first half, the Broncos found themselves surrounded by a 30-point corral.
The Broncos came on strong in the waning moments of the first half to make it seem as though it was game on, but a leaky defense had no answer for the Eel sword they faced. History is firmly against the Broncos, as no NRL team has permitted an opponent to score 50 in a half and go on to win a premiership, so NRL rugby historians will be relishing the game for some time to come, that is, until a try is scored in less than 11 seconds and some team finds a way to win an NRL premiership after giving up 50 first half points.
Records, they say, were set to be broken.
Radradra hat a hat trick within the first 20 minutes. It may have been the Brisbane Lions on the ground.