Warriors snatch victory over Roosters
A Shaun Johnson penalty in the 78th minute gave the Warriors a dramatic 14-13 win over the Roosters in Auckland yesterday.
In a gripping finish, the Roosters dominated possession and territory stats over the final 20 minutes and despite some great defending, it looked as if a Mitchell Pearce field goal in the 75th minute had given them the win.
The Warriors failed to score in the half up until that point, but referee Ashley Klein made the big call in awarding the Warriors a penalty from close range three minutes later.
It ends the Warriors’ two-game losing streak and means they’re now two points outside the top eight on the NRL ladder.
The most thrilling action came at the end of a game which started sedately. Three minutes into it the Warriors were given a penalty, 35 metres from the Roosters line. They chose to turn down the two points from a kick but couldn’t conjure up anything.
But soon after, one of their best players of the season, James Gavet took a ball from Issac Luke at dummy half a couple of metres out and crashed over for a try.
Boyd Cordner came close to scoring for the Roosters eight minutes later, but dropped the ball as he tried to ground it over the line.
It wasn’t until the 22nd minute that the first interchange was made, with the Wests Tigers bound Ben Matulino coming on for Gavet.
In the 27th minute, just as rain started to fall, the Roosters got their opening try.
It was started off by a 60m run from Shaun Kenny-Dowall, the ball was then moved over to the right and Joseph Manu dodged past Ryan Hoffman and Blake Ayshford to score.
Six minutes before the break Daniel Tupou was sent to the sinbin for a professional foul 10m from the Roosters’ line, stopping Shaun Johnson from making a quick play of the ball after he had lost the ball to him in a one-on-one tackle.
Again the Warriors chose down the easy option of picking up a couple of points and this time the decision paid off with David Fusitu’a taking a pass from John-
son to score.
Later, Kenny-Dowall intercepted a pass thrown by Johnson and ran half the length of the field to score.
The Roosters piled on the pressure after that try, looking to take the lead for the first time, but the Warriors defence was resolute and the Sydney club eventually had to settle for a penalty kick in the 55th minute to square the game at 12-12.
The Roosters kept keep the heat on the Warriors and Hoffman had to charge down another one-point attempt seven minutes from time.
However, with Pearce’s third attempt he finally found the space between the posts to put the Roosters in front.
That looked to be the game, but the Warriors were awarded a penalty for offside with two minutes left on the clock.
It meant that the result would be determined by Johnson’s kick on the Roosters’ 20m line and the halfback put the ball right down the middle.