Brisbane hooker Michael Ennis scored two tries and booted seven goals Sunday to lead the Broncos to a 34-22 win over Newcastle in Australia's National Rugby League.
Ennis crossed twice midway through the opening half as the Broncos took full advantage of a strong southerly breeze at their backs to lead 26-8 at halftime.
The Knights rallied in the second half with Kurt Gidley and Cory Paterson scoring twice each before Broncos skipper Justin Hodges scored a 30-meter intercept try for his second of the day in the 68th minute.
In other Sunday matches, Adrian Purtell scored three tries to lead Canberra to a 30-24 win over the Wests Tigers and the New Zealand Warriors stayed unbeaten at home by defeating the Bulldogs 36-16.
On Saturday, North Queensland won its second straight, beating St. George Illawarra 20-16. Johnathan Thurston scored a try and kicked four goals for the Cowboys.
Second-half tries to Amos Roberts, Craig Fitzgibbon and Mitchell Pearce sealed a 28-12 win for the Sydney Roosters over Penrith. It was the Roosters' fourth win in five matches to open the season, putting them in a tie for first place with the Broncos and Gold Coast Titans.
Gold Coast captain and former Australian test halfback Scott Prince led the Titans to a 28-20 win Friday over Parramatta. Interchange utility Josh Graham scored the clinching try five minutes from fulltime, but Prince set up two other earlier tries and gave the Titans superior field position with accurate kicking.
"He's probably the best halfback in the game at the moment," Titans coach John Cartwright said of Prince. "We got no quality ball in the second half and we needed to score again to win. To just come up with two tries out of nothing speaks for itself."
Billy Slater scored two tries to lead Melbourne to a 26-4 win over Manly. Slater opened the scoring in the 15th minute, stepping past former Storm center Steve Bell and beating Michael Bani for the first try.
In the 29th minute, Slater exchanged passes with Michael Crocker before crossing for his sixth try of the season as Melbourne led 14-0 at halftime.
Matt Orford, who spent five seasons as the Melbourne halfback before joining Manly in 2006, said his side played "ugly," but praised the Storm.
"They're just a disciplined football side," said Orford. "They don't make errors in their own end. We were very guilty of that."
On Monday, South Sydney plays Cronulla.
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