The Sydney Roosters pulled off a controversial 14-8 victory over a brave Canberra to win the 2019 grand final, becoming the first team to win back-to-back premierships since Brisbane in the early 1990s.
The Tricolours defended their title thanks to a dramatic late try, going the length of the field to score when a six-again call was changed to give them the ball.
Referee Ben Cummins briefly signalled six again after a bomb appeared to rebound off James Tedesco and the Raiders regained the ball, but a handover was ordered when the Canberra player in possession was finally tackled.
The sin-binning of Cooper Cronk for a professional foul on 49 minutes had allowed the Raiders to get on even terms at 8-8.
The defending premiers, who lost veteran back-rower Mitch Aubusson after just 13 minutes to a left knee injury, went into the sheds leading just 8-6 after dominating early as Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, obviously anxious to make up for lost time after missing the preliminary final through suspension, had 10 runs for 108 metres after just 25 minutes.
The Roosters got a lucky break when a kick rebounded from Sia Soliola's head and struck the trainer so instead of Elliott Whitehead chasing it in hopes of a try the Roosters got the feed and Sam Verrills cleverly darted over from dummy-half to open the scoring in the ensuing set.
But the Raiders refused to wilt and slowly worked their way back into the match until they gained their just reward through Jack Wighton who made the most of a repeat set by stepping past Boyd Cordner.
No comments:
Post a Comment