Roosters’ late burst seals deal
BURDEKIN have maintained their edge over country rivals Herbert River with a gritty 17- 10 win in Ayr on Saturday.
The victory has put Burdekin on equal competition points with the Crushers and provided the perfect platform for a run home to the finals, which begins for the Roosters in a fortnight after their bye this weekend.
Roosters coach Carl List praised his understrength team for staying in the grind with a similarly undermanned Herbert River, which led 6- 4 at half time.
Scores were locked at 10- all with roughly 15 minutes until full time before Burdekin broke the shackles with a converted try, but the home outfit only sealed the Round 14 win when Lona Kaifoto booted a field goal with three minutes left on the clock.
“We knew that the team which stuck to its guns, made the least amount of mistakes and completed the best would win it,” List said.
“We were very happy to get away with that win considering the number of players we had unavailable, but Herbert River were pretty much in the same situation as well.
“We’ve now kept the wood on Herbert River for two games, and we play our last game of the regular season against them in Ingham, so we know we’re going to get one hell of a reception up there.”
Norths kept their finals hopes alive with a 38- 18 win over University at JCU, with Daniel Pickering bagging a hat- trick of tries. Third- placed Brothers made a statement in their 50- 14 win over Centrals on Friday night.