Match Details
Match Date	22nd Mar, 2002
Opponent	Brisbane
Result	Draw 20-20
Coach	Steven Folkes
Captain	Steve Price
Venue	Brisbane (ANZ Stadium)
Crowd	22,300
Referee	Tim Mander

Bulldogs coach Steve Folkes said it had disappeared. His counterpart, Wayne Bennett, claimed it had never existed. Maybe next year, the Broncos will find it at Lang Park.

But thanks to a 78th-minute try to Bulldogs winger Hazem El Masri, Brisbane's invincibility at home, which once ran to 22 consecutive matches, gave every indication of being in serious decline.

They have not won there since May last year although, to be fair, in that time they have played only five games there.

"I think, through performing well up here, we have got rid of that air that they are invincible up here," Folkes said after last night's 20-20 draw at ANZ Stadium.

Not even the return of the great Allan Langer could enable the Broncos to hang on after they stormed back to level the scores with 23 minutes to go and then hit the front - 20-14 - with 13 left.

The Bulldogs won a scrum against the feed and El Masri chased a kick, grounding it just short of the dead-ball line.

It was his second try, he converted it, and the Bulldogs got their first competition point of the season.

A taciturn Bennett said his team had thrown the game away but dismissed talk of invincible "auras" as irrelevant.

"We never went around saying we had an aura," Bennett said. "We've had winning seasons, we've had losing seasons.

"Why wouldn't you want to play here? There's a great surface, great facilities, a good atmosphere. What's not to like about coming here?"

There was no shortage of talking points as the Bulldogs put in a four tries-to-three performance to spoil Langer's big night - his first game at home since making his third comeback.

Both El Masri tries went to video referee Eddie Ward, the first in the 36th minute and the second in the 78th.

The Broncos didn't dispute either decision. They had other concerns.

Of the scrum win against the feed, captain Gorden Tallis said: "Their prop's leg was so far across the scrum it was nearly touching me [in the second row], so I don't know what the rules are.

"Nothing would surprise me these days."

And Bennett took issue with the policing of players rushing up prematurely from the play-the-ball.

Last Saturday, the Bulldogs fell victim to this tactic when it was employed by Wests Tigers. Last night, they seemed to have learned their lesson.

"We got lectured before the game about how strictly it would be enforced - you can look at the video and judge for yourself how it was enforced," Bennett said. "I think it's a real issue for the game."

The Bulldogs used their own subterfuge before the game, not bringing veteran second-rower Darren Smith to Brisbane with them but not revealing his withdrawal until an hour before kickoff.

A journalist at training on the Gold Coast on Thursday claimed to have been told by an official that Smith was "lying down with fatigue". "And you believed him?" Folkes said at the post-match media conference.

Hooker Corey Hughes was reported for a high tackle, while winger Gavin Lester was forced off with an bad facial cut.

"It [blood] was pumping out like from a hose," referee Tim Mander said. "I wasn't going to go over and have a close look."

Lester was expected to require a blood transfusion after he and rival winger Lote Tuqiri and clashed mid-air before Lockyer's second try.

But in the disappointment of the Broncos room - "it feels like a loss," said Tallis - there was one thing to be pleased about.

Langer set up Lockyer's first try with a kick, engineered the match-leveller for five-eighth Shaun Berrigan with a sublime pass and had an early hand in Lockyer's second.

After Lockyer gave the Broncos an early lead, the Dogs put themselves in position for for a boilover with consecutive tries to Willie Talau and Glen Hughes.

With El Masri's first try the visitors led 14-8 at half-time.

Before heavy rain set in for the main game, errant Broncos centre Chris Walker scored five tries in the curtain-raiser. Walker had been hauled over the coals for off-field misdeameanours and Bennett said: "I'm not going to talk about Chris Walker here. He wasn't in the first-grade squad tonight."

Asked whether thought ANZ was no longer intimidating, he answered: "I don't think that's an issue. It's just something that happens in rugby league."

Source: www.rleague.com

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