IT was one of the rare occasions in their long careers that arch rivals Brian Smith and Wayne Bennett agreed.

Both coaches believed the two converted tries the Broncos scored in the last few minutes of the first half proved the critical difference in Brisbane's 34-22 victory over Newcastle at a storm-lashed EnergyAustralia Stadium yesterday.

The goalkicking of Brisbane hooker Michael Ennis was the other significant factor. Both teams scored five tries, but Ennis, a Knights junior and a standout man of the match yesterday, kicked seven from seven and Kurt Gidley only one from five for Newcastle.

The Knights rallied in the second half, as they have done all season, but were forced to play catch-up after Ennis and Karmichael Hunt scored tries three minutes apart just before the break to stretch a 14-8 edge into an imposing 26-8 lead.

"We just got a bit lucky before half-time there. That probably made the difference because I think there wasn't much between the two teams," Bennett said.

"It was difficult playing in that weather [defending] at that [northern] end. It was difficult for them in the first half and it was difficult for us in the second half, but we got that try right on half-time and I think that was the difference."

Smith was disappointed with one-on-one missed tackles around the rucks, especially when Hunt brushed past props Ben Cross and Richie Fa'aoso to scoot away and score a minute before half-time.

"Their tries in the first half were just too easy. That came down to a bit of communication, a couple of simple tackles. But, to be fair, the Broncos supported their breaks extremely well and converted their chances into points straight away," Smith said.

Ennis kicked a penalty goal into the teeth of the southerly five minutes into the second half for a 28-8 advantage, then the Knights made their charge with two tries in two minutes to Gidley and Cory Paterson to pull within 28-18 with 19 minutes to go.

Flashes of lightning created eerie mood lighting and claps of thunder provided an appropriate backing track as the crowd of 21,614 found their voice with a "New-cas-tle" chant.

Knights skipper Danny Buderus broke into the clear in the 64th minute but lost the ball in a tackle close to Brisbane's line. Referee Shayne Hayne did not see Knights support player Wes Naiqama tackled by Nick Kenny without the ball in the lead-up, but Smith did.

"I saw that, but apparently nobody else did. It was a bit of a disappointment that, because we were really on a roll there, but that's how we've been in the last couple of weeks," he said.

"Last week we got the penalty count punched out of us, so we did some work on that and got it under control a whole heap better this week, but could still only get two ourselves today.

"But most of today was down to good execution by our opponents and some sloppy areas for ourselves."

The final twist came in the 68th minute when Newcastle created a chance on their left edge 30 metres from their own line, but centre Keith Lulia lost the ball behind him and Justin Hodges plucked it out of the air and returned it to score for 34-18.

"Even on that play there was a chance for us to go the other direction. It probably summed up how the game went for us today," Smith said.

"We got punished very much for our errors today . . . We missed a tackle, we got scored against, and I was probably a little disappointed also with our execution.

"I think there were some more chances that if we'd have executed a little better we might have even scored more tries than them. That would have been a first for a long time, for a team to score more tries than the opposition and lose."

Back-rower Chris Houston, promoted from the bench to start after Matt Hilder's matchday withdrawal, powered over from a Buderus pass to finish the scoring in the 76th minute.

"We thought we were right there with them, especially in that first half playing a bit of tit-for-tat footy with them, and I thought we were right over the top of them," Cross said.

"But those couple of tries just before half-time got them away from us by more than two converted tries.

"If we'd have kept them to [a lead of] only two converted tries, I think we could have got away with it, but unfortunately that wasn't the case."