No Kalyn Ponga, no problems for the Newcastle Knights.
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The brilliant fullback was a no-show against the Brisbane on Saturday night because of a calf injury but Newcastle still had far too much fire-power for the Broncos winning 26-12 in front of 24,397 fans at McDonald Jones Stadium..
The Knights scored four tries to two in a dominant performance with prop David Klemmer leading from the front with outstanding game, just three weeks after breaking his wrist in Origin I.
Klemmer played 63 minutes and ran for 205 metres in a sensational return but had plenty of willing helpers with Blues prop Daniel Saifiti and Lachlan Fitzgibbon strong with the footy. Centre Jess Ramien had his best game for the club out wide.
The Knights led 18-0 at halftime but lost prop James Gavet to the sin-bin early in the second half to a controversial call from referee Ashley Klein which saw Brisbane sneak back into the contest.
But the Knights, who were their own worst enemy in that 20 minute period, regrouped to put the visitors away.
The Knights lost winger Edrick Lee to a suspected broken arm in the first half but it was the only sour note in an opening 40 minutes where the home side was right on song.
Lee put his side in front after just nine minutes when fullback Kurt Mann skipped across field close to Brisbane's line, swatting away a couple of defenders before lobbed a ball to his winger who planted the ball in the corner. Mason Lino converted for a 6-0 lead.
Backrower Lachlan Fitzgibbon made in 12-0 midway through the half after he scored off a great off-load from Tim Glasby.
Held up in a tackle, Glasby slipped the ball out late with Connor Watson, Mitchell Pearce and Mann all handling before Fitzgibbon speared through from close range.
Winger Shaun Kenny-Dowall then crossed 13 minutes from halftime for an 18-0 advantage when Lino caught the Broncos' left edge defence short with a brilliant long ball. Once again he converted from wide out.
Brisbane had several chances on the Knights line in the first 40 but some clunky attack and great Newcastle defence kept them to zero.
The Knights blew the second half restart with Jamie Buhrer knocking on and it went from bad to worse.
The Gavet sin bin left the home side a man short and they were made to pay with Broncos forward Thomas Flegler scoring out wide for an 18-6 scoreline.
Then came two brain explosions from Pearce where he failed to find touch from two penalties but neither proved costly.
The Knights had some breathing space when Lino kicked an easy penalty goal for a 20-6 advantage but then the Broncos were gifted a four pointer to Kotoni Staggs after Hymel Hunt was ruled to have lost the ball close to his own line.
At 20-12 with 19 minutes remaining, Brisbane still had a sniff but it was snuffed out with 10 to go when centre Jesse Ramien stormed over the top of Darius Boyd to put Lino over. He converted for a 26-12 lead.