The Sydney Roosters NYC side have recorded a come from behind, two-point victory over the New Zealand Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium to return to the winners list and keep their Top 4 hopes alive heading into the 2014 Holden Cup Finals series.
End to end footy in the opening minutes saw both sides test each other through the middle of the field and it was a case of try and try again for the first four pointer of the afternoon after hard-running Jokatama Dokonivalu was gifted a perfect, flat pass from Captain Alex Thomas just metres out from the Warriors line to crash over in the fifth minute.
It was ten minutes before the scoreboard attendant was up from his seat again, after a strong run from Willis Meehan saw the side on the front foot and into Warriors territory.
From there, halfback Tyler Cornish took control and in running down the short side managed to find Braden Uele who offloaded brilliantly for Taane Milne before the centre found his winger Jack Goodsell in space to score.
The Warriors crossed the line for the first time in the 20th minute however a last-ditch effort from Milne and Goodsell in defence saw the home side held up and sent back ten metres to re-star their set.
It wasn't long before they were back in the red zone however and after peppering the line for close to five minutes, halfback and Captain Mason Lino forced the break through after a dummy and a step saw him through to reach out and score.
After a dominant period from the home side, with their cause helped by ill-discipline from the young Chooks, a scrum just 15m out from the Warriors line proved valuable.
A beautiful pass from the scrum base from Joseph Manu found centre Milne sweeping from the right to left before finding Nene Macdonald to offload for Brendan Elliot to find his way over, despite a Captain's Challenge from the Warriors.
The home side hit back soon after however through Toafofoa Sipley after yet again ill-discipline in defence allowed them up field before the backrower crashed over out of dummy half to close the gap to just four points at the half time break.
It was ten minutes into the second half that the first points were scored after an end to end opening to the second stanza resulted in the home side showing their skill with ball in hand as Brad Abbey crossed after a 60m run from Nathaniel Roache.
It wasn't until the 68th minute that points were on the board again as Nene Macdonald showed why he's regarded as one of the Holden Cup's best with a step, dummy and fend seeing the No.6 crash over under the sticks.
However a successful Captain's Challenge from the home side saw Macdonald's try overturned.
Just a matter of minutes later and a scuffle between the sides resulted in a penalty against the home team, handing Paul Momirovski a shot at levelling it up at 18-all which the youngster nailed with ease.
As the clock began to countdown into the dying stages another strong run from Willis Meehan saw the Warriors backtracking and ill-discipline resulted with the home side penalised for a strip in the tackle.
Again with a shot from 30m out, Skipper Thomas had no hesitation in pointing to the uprights and Momirovski made no mistake sending it through the sticks to take back the lead 20-18.
And that's where it stayed, with Adam Hartigan's men holding out a desperate Warriors side in the final minutes to return to the winners list and stay in the hunt for a Top 4 spot heading into the 2014 Holden Cup Finals series.
