Sydney Roosters booked a semi-final place in the NRL finals after a thrilling 24-22 victory over Brisbane.
After being 14-0 up early, Brisbane came roaring back to lead with ten to play but a late Latrell Mitchell special sealed it for the Roosters.
Sydney came out the blocks so fast that the Broncos just couldn’t handle them.
It wasn’t long before Aidan Guerra was found by Jake Friend, allowing the back rower to stroll over.
The lead was 12 when Mitchell Pearce offloaded to Boyd Cordner, who spotted a gap in the Broncos defence and charged through it. Gordon kicked a penalty, his third kick of the half to stretch the lead to 14-0.
Brisbane would come back into the game in the last ten of the half. James Roberts got the Broncos on the board when he collected a Benji Marshall grubber. Kahu kicked the conversion leaving Brisbane eight points down at half-time.
The Roosters went 14 in front when Luke Keary spotted a sizeable gap in Brisbane’s defence.
But from then on, Brisbane fought back. First through Oates, his first of two tries, and Ben Hunt, who grubbered through to himself to score.
With their lead at two, Blake Ferguson rushed across to save a Benji Marhsall 40/20 only to fling the ball back in field for Oates to finish.
Five minutes later, Mitchell saved Ferguson’s blushes when he powered through Roberts and beat Kodi Nikorima to score. Gordon’s easy kick sealed the win for Sydney.
Roosters: 1 Michael Gordon, 3 Latrell Mitchell, 16 Ryan Matterson, 4 Mitchell Aubusson, 5 Blake Ferguson, 6 Luke Keary, 7 Mitchell Pearce, 8 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, 9 Jake Friend, 10 Dylan Napa, 11 Boyd Cordner, 12 Aidan Guerra, 13 Isaac Liu; Interchanges: 14 Kane Evans, 15 Sio Siua Taukeiaho, 17 Connor Watson, 23 Daniel Tupou
Tries: Guerra, Cordner, Keary, Mitchell; Goals: Gordon 4
Broncos: 5 Jordan Kahu, 2 Corey Oates, 3 James Roberts, 4 Tautau Moga, 14 David Mead, 6 Anthony Milford, 7 Benji Marshall, 8 Sam Thaiday, 9 Ben Hunt, 10 Adam Blair, 11 Alex Glenn, 12 Matt Gillett, 13 Josh McGuire; Interchanges: 1 Kodi Nikorima, 15 Jai Arrow, 16 Joe Ofahengaue, 17 Herman Ese’ese
Tries: Roberts, Oates 2, Hunt; Goals: Kahu 3
Full coverage of all the weekend’s NRL matches will feature in Monday’s issue of League Express, available in the shops and online from Sunday evening.