The Roosters have pulled off a thrilling comeback in New Zealand on Saturday night, defeating the Warriors 21-25 in an absolute nail biter.
It was a tough night early on, with the Roosters defending set after set on their line and holding well for a large portion. Late in the half though, the Warriors opened the flood gates and scored three tries through Solomone Kata, Tuimoala Lolohea and Manu Vatuvai.
The Roosters got on the scoreboard late in the first half, when Tuivasa-Sheck kicked in goal and Kenny-Dowall cleaned up. James Maloney converted and the Roosters went into the break trailing 14-6.
The Warriors started the second half in clinical form when Konrad Hurrell popped an offload to Solomone Kata to open the scoring in the half. The Roosters weren’t ready to hang their heads yet though, when Jackson Hastings put up a nice kick that was collected and put down by Brendan Elliot.
The Roosters had all the momentum after scoring and decided to go for goal after receiving a penalty in front of the uprights. It turned into a back and forth game, Shaun Johnson kicking to touch and making the Roosters work it out from their line. A damaging run from Taukeiaho saw Jake Friend almost put it down under the uprights on the back of it, but the ball was short.
Fifteen minutes remaining and trailing by six, the Roosters had a lot of momentum after a slow start, and it was James Maloney who found the hole and scored to level the game 20-20. In the following set Maloney slotted the field goal to lead by one.
The nail biting would continue though, as Shaun Johnson would strike back with a field goal of his own with less than five minutes on the clock. Tuivasa-Sheck would then go for a field goal of his own, it went left but was knocked on by a Warriors player in goal.
In the final set of the game, the Roosters got a good roll on up the middle. It looked like a field goal was inevitable, but after the Warriors rushed up on Maloney, he spread it wide and the comeback kid Blake Ferguson put it down on the wing to steal the lead at full time in an absolute thriller.
