The Penrith Panthers and Sydney Roosters could not be separated after regulation time nor extra time before Dane Laurie finished the game of his life with a field goal to send the Panthers into the Preliminary Finals.
The Roosters got on the board first when Ethan Quai-Ward made a good run towards the corner after a tight opening tussle.
Penrith hit back within five minutes when Alex Myles charged onto a ball and stretched out to score, before the Roosters returned the favour almost immediately when Jake Hazard made a line-break and put in a kick for McKenzie Baker to cross.
The teams were going try-for-try when Glenn McGrady pounced on a Daine Laurie grubber to give the Panthers a small lead at the half-time break.
McKenzie Baker ensured the see-saw score-line continued when he opened the second half scoring for the Roosters, before the Panthers kept it going when Laurie just held onto a pass, managed to keep his arm above the ground and crawled his way over the line.
Penrith finally broke the cycle with 10 minutes remaining when Ezraa Coulston put Jack Jones into space for him to score in the left corner to take a 20-16 lead.
A freakish effort once again locked the scores up at 20-all when Jake Hazard put in a perfect grubber which sat up for Reihana Marsh who juggled it whilst trying to re-gather and somehow turned around to catch it behind him and score.
The Roosters received a penalty with one minute remaining 20 metres back but out wide and the attempted conversion hit the post meaning the game went into extra time.
With six seconds left in the first half of extra time, Laurie skipped towards the posts but sharply turned to the sideline, created an overlap and after a string of passes, Terrell May scored in the corner to give them a 24-20 lead with only the second period of ET to go.
The Roosters got a perfect chance when a kick was split on the Panthers’ line and they received a scrum 10 metres out and they capitalised on the chance by shifting the ball out to Christian Tuipulotu who scored in the corner to make it 24-all with two minutes remaining.
Trindall missed a field goal attempt for the Panthers with 40 seconds remaining and with that we were off to golden point.
The Roosters made an error off the kick-off set and when Laurie had a chance from in front, he didn’t miss to send the Panthers into the Preliminary Final.
Written by Matt Buxton of NSWRL.
ROOSTERS TRIES:
Ethan Quai-Ward 9'
McKenzie Baker 21'
McKenzie Baker 36'
Reihana Marsh 65'
Christian Tuipulotu 76'
CONVERSIONS
Bayleigh Bentley-Hape 2/5
