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.
Mushi
Guest
If you were a rooster's fan you'd be used to it from the Skd days. Ferguson is a massive improvement
Nayfo
Guest
NEKMINNUT
steveng
Roar Rookie
Mate, if you don't know what a 'forward pass' is then you shouldn't follow the NRL, the Broncos threw that many FP's that it wasn't funny, there were a few there that were let go (especially from dummy half) and the refs had to do something. The rule book goes as follows: FORWARD PASS - is a throw towards the opponents’ dead ball line (see Section 10). Section 10 Direction of Pass - The direction of a pass is relative to the player making it and not to the actual path relative to the ground. A player running towards his opponents’ goal line may throw the ball towards a colleague who is behind him but because of the thrower’s own momentum the ball travels forward relative to the ground. This is not a forward pass as the thrower has not passed the ball forward in relation to himself. This is particularly noticeable when a running player makes a high, lobbed pass. Scrum for forward pass - A forward pass in a passing movement is invariably caused by misjudgement and is rarely a deliberate offence. Play is restarted with a scrum after an accidental infringement. Penalty for some - If the Referee is of the opinion that a player in giving a forward passes forward pass must have been well aware that the catcher was in front of him then the referee is justified in ruling that the ball has been deliberately thrown forward. Ball is blown or bounces forward - If the ball is passed correctly but bounces forward or is blown forward by the wind, there is no infringement and play should continue.
steveng
Roar Rookie
And who was the first player to be there and give Latrell a big 'hug, kiss' and be so relived that his career depended on it??? I'll give you a one letter guess the big 'F' lol
Jimmmy
Guest
Better side won but gee the Roosters can make it hard for themselves. They blew the Broncs off the park early but in the second half they were very ordinary at times . If they can play like that first 25 minutes for the whole 80 they are a shot at beating Melbourne but I haven't seen them do it in a game yet this year. The Broncs can win next week and make a prelim but they can't beat the Storm.
Tom G
Guest
If I were a Roosters fan I would be happy to see the development of Mitchell but would be sweating on the brain farts of Ferguson. Not just the gifted try blunder, he has too many mistakes in any game to count.. good thing for him he has speed and size because he definitely lacks anything at all between the ears
AGO74
Guest
Very entertaining - if error riddled - game. Based on last night neither team has the consistency to match Melbourne.
Lidcombe Oval
Guest
If the Roosters play 80 minutes of footy they can win this comp- haven't done it all season - be interesting to see if they can though- need too in week 3 if they make they make the GF though and week 4 to win it.
Lidcombe Oval
Guest
Better side won but the Roosters are a long way from being a contender same for Broncos- neither side would have put any worries into the minds of the Storm- the team to beat - I expect they will beat Parra by a fair margin
Oingo Boingo
Guest
COCKADOODLE COUGH COUGH DOO.
Azza
Guest
Roosters bombed countless tries and gifted broncos one, that's how they stayed in game! Knew when Cordner fell over with line open, broncos were gonna launch a comeback, and pull of an undeserved flukes win! Thank god for Latrell, better side won,unfortunately, a lot closer than it should have been!!!
Worlds Biggest
Guest
I don't know how the Broncos were in that game, for large parts they were terrible. The Chooks just couldn't put them away despite being gifted so much possession. Keary was fantastic and caused all kinds of havoc for the Broncs. Speaking of havoc, Marshall was poor tonight, his short kicking game for the most part was wasteful, he made a couple of good plays but too many errors in such a big game. Bennett needs to put Hunt back to halfback and Nikorima to hooker. What a try by Mitchell, so strong and Cordner played a big captains knock. It was a great second half of footy.
Aaron
Guest
Well a good game of footy to start the finals, although pretty sloppy from both teams. Bennett made a massive mistake reshuffling the whole back line to cover Boyd. The first twenty minutes from the Broncos were very poor as a result, with no trust in their outside man in defense. Keary, Cordner and Mitchell had good games for the Roosters. I love how Cordner runs those hard lines. He's a very good player. Some strange calls from the referees in the first half, with the dubious forward pass calls out of dummy half and the soft penalty for the late? tackle on Pearce, which ended up being the difference. Still, the referees didn't make the Broncos miss all those tackles so they only have themselves to blame.