The Roosters have beaten the Broncos 24-22 in a thrilling finish in the first qualifying final at Allianz Stadium after leading 14-6 at half-time.
Despite missing a lot of tackles and having a poor completion rate, the Broncos somehow hit the front for the first time in the match with eight minutes to go.
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Corey Oates scored what could have been the match-winning try when he was gifted a clear run to the line after Roosters’ winger Blake Ferguson flicked an attempted Benji Marshall 40/20 kick back inside the field of play.
But Latrell Mitchell saved the day for the Roosters. After spending most of the night on the wing, he went back into the centres and used a big fend and step to beat two players to score and level the scores.
Michael Gordon slotted the relatively easy but high-pressure conversion to put the Roosters back in front.
They then hung on as the Broncos threw everything at them in the final minutes to win their way through to the preliminary final in two weeks’ time. They’ll have to improve on tonight’s performance though.
In the first half, the Roosters quickly skipped out to a 14-0 lead. Their first try came in the 12th minute, when backrower Aidan Guerra went through a big gap to score untouched after running onto a great ball from hooker Jake Friend.
They were in again six minutes later, when captain Boyd Cordner fended off Adam Blair in a 25-metre run to the line.
A penalty goal not long after put the Roosters in front 14-0.
The Broncos hit back with a crucial try three minutes before half-time when James Roberts used his speed to get to a Benji Marshall grubber and ground the ball in-goal.
The Roosters extended their lead in the 44th minute when Luke Keary used his pace to slice through another gap in the Broncos’ defence to score.
That made it 18-6 but the Broncos hit back when Corey Oates scored the first of his two tries for the game, using his size after the Broncos threw the ball out wide.
At 18-10, the Roosters then had a Latrell Mitchell try controversially disallowed after it was ruled he failed to ground the ball cleanly. That decision was debatable but the pass Mitchell received was marginal anyway.
Not long after, Roosters’ captain Boyd Cordner slipped over with the line wide open and the Roosters were somehow denied again.
With ten minutes to go, Ben Hunt chased through his own grubber and scored under the posts to give the Broncos hope and make it 18-16. Oates then scored his second two minutes later, before Latrell Mitchell’s match-sealer for the Roosters.
The Broncos missed a total of 39 tackles for the match, how they stayed in it was a mystery. They’ll now go on to play the winner of Manly and Penrith at home at Suncorp next week. On tonight’s effort, they’ll need to both tighten their defence and improve their completion rate.
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