Pearce stars as Chooks prevail
HE was the whipping boy after another failed NSW State of Origin campaign.
But while the opposition wasn’t in the same league as Queensland last night, Mitchell Pearce fired back to keep the Sydney Roosters in the fight for the NRL minor premiership.
Ahead of the big game against North Queensland next round, the Roosters maintained second spot on the ladder with a comfortable 28-4 win over the luckless Newcastle Knights.
Pearce played a hand in three of the Roosters’ five tries with a classy performance, while Blake Ferguson also bounced back after his week of controversy.
The big winger finished with a try and played a hand in another but was involved in another incident he could have lived without.
Ferguson accidentally flattened Chanel Mata’utia and knocked his young opposite out cold in the process midway through the second half.
There was nothing illegal or nasty in it.
Ferguson was returning a kick when he braced for the collision and his forearm collected Mata’utia right on the chin.
Newcastle did extremely
NRL ROUND 20
well to stay in the match until a stinker of a call went against them.
Trailing 16-4 in the 60th minute, almost everyone agreed Latrell Mitchell knocked on a Pearce kick but the video referee determined it wasn’t knocked forward.
It was the kind of call that has been breaking the Knights fans’ hearts all season but it handed Daniel Tupou the Roosters’ third try to blow the score to 16-4.
Minutes later Pearce produced a great try-saving tackle on Luke Yates before a ripper ball put Isaac Liu over for his first try of the year in his 100th NRL game.
Ferguson and Pearce were also involved in the lead-up to Connor Watson’s final try that put the match to bed in the final 10 minutes.
LIGHTNING Broncos centre James Roberts is set to ink a new deal, likely to be a three-year extension, with the Brisbane club as early as next week.