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AAP
AAP
Joel Gould

Roosters stun Broncos in 10-point win at Suncorp

The Sydney Roosters have stunned the Broncos with a 10-point win at Suncorp Stadium. (Chloe Davis/AAP PHOTOS)

Sydney Roosters have secured a deserved second win of the season with centre Billy Smith scoring a brilliant two tries in a 26-16 takedown of Brisbane.

It was 25-year-old Smith's second game back after an 18-month injury layoff and he turned it on at Suncorp Stadium in front of 40,814 fans on Friday.

Skipper and fullback James Tedesco, hooker Connor Watson and prop Nat Butcher were all enormous.

Billy Smith.
Billy Smith was instrumental for the Roosters, with two tries in the first half. (Chloe Davis/AAP PHOTOS)

It was the Roosters' fifth consecutive win over the Broncos at Suncorp and a complete reversal of their 50-14 loss to Brisbane in round one.

The Roosters played with more energy and their pack dominated their more fancied rivals.

"We nailed it tonight. There is real spirit in this team and you could see it right from the start," Roosters coach Trent Robinson said.

Broncos coach Michael Maguire said his side were out-muscled.

"We didn't turn up physical enough to earn the right to get that one. I thought they were more hungry," he said. 

The first half had several bizarre twists with momentum swinging, plenty of stop-start play, penalties galore and fiery confrontations.

Reece Walsh.
Reece Walsh scored the Broncos' second try but the home side were no match for the Roosters. (Chloe Davis/AAP PHOTOS)

There were several contentious moments too.

Roosters centre Billy Smith was sin-binned in the 19th minute for a high tackle with moderate force on fullback Reece Walsh, just when the visitors were on top at 8-0.

The Bunker got involved to retrospectively sin-bin Broncos forward Jack Gosiewski in the 30th minute for his high tackle on Roosters' lock Victor Radley.

Roosters second-rower Angus Crichton was put on report for an elbow to the throat of Broncos skipper Adam Reynolds. 

Then Brisbane centre Kotoni Staggs was also booked for a late shot on Roosters five-eighth Sandon Smith. 

Watson added to the "reportathon" when he too was booked for a hit on winger Jesse Arthars, who left the field with a category one HIA which he later passed.

Billy Smith leapt high with commitment and class to rise above Walsh to latch onto a Sandon Smith bomb and it was 8-0 after 15 minutes.

"Billy set the tone. It is just the intensity of the way he trains and prepares. It gets rewards," Robinson said. 

The Broncos were struggling to make any impact until freakishly talented winger Selwyn Cobbo swooped on a Sandon Smith pass and raced 50m to score.

Broncos skipper Adam Reynolds orchestrated a Walsh try with a double-pump pass that deceived the Roosters defence. Both tries were scored when Smith was in the bin.

The Roosters scored twice when Gosiewski was in the bin. 

Billy Smith did wonderfully well to ground a James Tedesco grubber kick before the dead-ball line and then Crichton crashed over after a scheming dart by hooker Connor Watson for a 20-12 half-time lead.

Walsh put Arthars over after the break to narrow the margin to four but the Roosters could not be denied. Butcher crashed over in the 65th minute off a Watson pass and they hung on.

New Roosters half Hugo Savala, in his first starting game, gave a good account of himself.

Tedesco ran for 213m from 22 runs in a true captain's knock.

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