The Sydney Roosters have recorded two late tries in the final ten minutes to record a 30-26 victory over the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium.
It was the home side who raced out of the blocks with a four-pointer to Ben Hunt in just the fourth minute after the Broncos opted to run it on the last and the halfback found himself in space after a clever dummy at the Roosters line.
The momentum was quickly lost however after a spill at the kick off receipt from former Chook Marty Kennedy handed the Tricolours possession well inside the Brisbane half.
The defending Premiers didn’t miss their opportunity either.
A quick play to the left hand side through the hands of halves Mitchell Pearce and James Maloney saw the ball end up in the hands of try-scoring machine Michael Jennings who stepped his way into space to put the Bondi Boys on the scoreboard.
Again a mistake at the kick off hurt the home side with the kick flying over the dead ball line on the full and handing the Roosters a penalty on the halfway line.
It wasn’t long again before the Tricolours were in again with a rampaging Sam Moa showing himself to be somewhat of a try-scoring machine in 2014, with the Kiwi prop carrying three Broncos defenders with him to crash over the line and plant the ball down.
The Roosters didn’t hold their lead for long however with a Hunt grubber into the in-goal intended for Ben Barba latched onto by Anthony Minichiello, but a late spill on the line saw Sam Thaiday dive on the loose ball.
A Corey Parker goal from in front of the uprights was the last scoring opportunity of the opening forty and saw the sides head into the half time break at 12 apiece.
It was ten minutes before the scoreboard attendant was called on in the second half with a penalty in front of the uprights handing the home side the lead, 14-12 with just half an hour remaining.
With the penalty count at 8-3 against the visiting side it was no surprise to see the Bondi Wall being put to the test by the Broncos and just five minutes after taking back the lead the home side were in again.
Another short-side play on the last found the Roosters outnumbered and a cut-out pass from Hoffman found Lachlan Maranta out wide to dive over and score.
It was again just five minutes before a vocal Suncorp Stadium was again treated to another try, but this time it was the visitors who managed to cross the stripe.
A beautiful play to the right edge found Pearce who floated the ball in behind two decoy runners to find Shaun Kenny-Dowall, who stepped off the right foot and reached out to score.
A Maloney conversion from out wide again saw the sides level, this time at 18-all, with less than 20 minutes remaining.
The Broncos hit back quickly however and were the next to cross, this time through centre Jack Reed who ran onto another blind side cut-out ball on the last tackle from Josh Hoffman.
The four-pointer saw the home side return to the lead with just over 10 minutes remaining.
The Broncos were in again shortly after, again down the left edge, with halfback Hunt receiving the ball on a wrap-around from Hoffman to dummy his way through the line to crash over in the corner.
With just eight minutes remaining on the clock and the Roosters trailing by twelve, many would have been forgiven for heading to the car park at Suncorp Stadium, but what a finish they were about to miss!
A short kick off from Maloney was perfectly placed for Daniel Tupou out wide, who batted the ball back down for his team mates.
A break from Maloney saw the side start their set on the Broncos 40m line and quickly after the ball was sent wide to the right with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck shooting into the line from fullback to dance his way over and score.
Maloney added the extras from just to the right of the posts and leave the gap at just two points with less than five minutes remaining.
A late charge at the line from the Tricolours saw the Broncos forced into a drop-out with just two minutes remaining.
In the final sixty seconds of play the Roosters took the ball to the left edge and find NSW and Australian backrower Boyd Cordner running a beautiful line to go over and secure the win in unbelievable fashion.
