Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.
THE Gatorade shower went to Trent Robinson on Sunday night.
It came after two flashes of Sonny Bill Williams brilliance underlined what he means to the Roosters, to the NRL, and what a loss he will be when he more than likely he leaves the NRL to return to rugby union.
Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.
The Roosters are the NRL premiers, underlining the great success stories of Robinson, the Dally M Coach of the Year, and Williams' return to rugby league, and the resurrection of one of the great proud clubs in the game.
Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.
There was a fear ANZ Stadium would fail to be a sellout after South Sydney was eliminated last week.
Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.
In their hope the Rabbitohs would qualify for their first grand final in 42 years Souths fans swamped the box office weeks ago, and when they were eliminated a week ago Souths fans were left not just with the disappointment of the Rabbitohs' exit, but with the bitter after taste that there no two teams now playing the grand final that Rabbitohs fans like less.
Hello, you either have JavaScript turned off or an old version of Adobe's Flash Player.
Tickets were said to be going for little more than a song websites the day before the game.
In the end, 81,491 turned up to watch one of the great grand finals, where the lead changed three times, and each time the leader looked set to go on with it.
There was a penalty try and another from a forward pass, enough lesser errors to provide a sprinkle of controversy and eternal argument, the Clive Churchill Medal winner was Daly Cherry-Evans, from the losing side, and then there were Williams' twin pieces of magic.
The first ended directly in a try to Shaun Kenny-Dowall to put the Roosters ahead while the second, a 30m burst up field, indirectly led to one of those freakish efforts that is fast becoming the hallmark of NRL football.
This time, Michael Jennings chased a loose ball and dived between Brett Stewart and David Williams to gather in the loose ball and touch down and give the Roosters the 26-18 final scoreline.
With just six minutes left, the premiership was sealed there.
It was a remarkable show of grit and composure from the Roosters.
They went into the game as reigning minor premiers and, better than that, statistically the best in the NRL. In attack and defence.
But they are just numbers, of course.
What you cannot measure are intangibles.
How do you measure courage? Or the steel inside the bones?
Whoever came up with a way to measure experience?
The Sea Eagles ran into the game with 11 survivors from their 2011 premiership. With seven from their 2008 premiership.
In other words, this was a team that knew what it took to get the job done. Week after week Manly has warred through this finals series, tired and injured, and through nothing but their own sheer will found a way to overcome.
They put all that experience to good use in the opening 20 minutes with a blitzkrieg that shocked the minor premiers, and then another shock start to the second half that took the game away.
The second-half start took the Sea Eagles from 8-6 down to 18-8 ahead, an almost unassailable lead given -
as was pointed out more than once - the Sea Eagles had conceded only two tries their previous two games, and both came from kicks.
In other words, their opponents had to go over them because they couldn't go through them.
The first will be debated Monday and for a long time to come.
Three minutes into the second stanza Cherry-Evans found space and as the defence closed he kicked ahead, with Jamie Lyon and Foran in chase.
Lyon looked set to score when Mitch Aubusson tackled him from behind, denied what looked certain - or could be argued wasn't certain - to be a try.
Referee Shayne Hayne asked the video referee to check for a penalty try, and the green light came on.
It was the first penalty try since Craig Smith was knocked out in the process of scoring by Jamie Ainscough in the 1999 decider, when Melbourne beat St George Illawarra.
The Sea Eagles' courage was never better shown than early on, in the plucky courage of five-eighth Foran.
With Sonny Bill Williams bearing down on him, a sight to turn most men limp, Foran shouldered up and jammed into the collision, bouncing out to leave Williams flailing.
Just minutes later Foran found himself on the other side of the ball but again on a collision course with Williams.
Again his courage won out.
With little more than a shoulder and intent, Foran jammed into Williams and jolted the ball loose. Two tackles after the scrum the Sea Eagles ran a play down their left edge for Jorge Taufua to score in the corner.
The game was only nine minutes old but already it was clear: the Roosters were paddling.
It was the first time in four games this season that Manly had scored a point in the first half against the Roosters.
Significantly, they had lost the previous three.
But the Roosters showed the quality of their football side.
Far from being ruffled by Manly's mean intent, the Roosters showed their cool nerve and, rather than forcing their game, went back to their structures and applied themselves.
And so back they came, showing they had some intangibles themselves.
SYDNEY ROOSTERS 26 (A Guerra M Jennings S Kenny-Dowall D Tupou tries J Maloney 5 goals) bt MANLY 18 (J Lyon S Matai J Taufua tries J Lyon 3 goals) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: Shayne Hayne, Ben Cummins. Crowd: 81,491.
***
Re-live the action in the blog below
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Roosters triumph in epic finale
Dengan url
http://sportifoclube.blogspot.com/2013/10/roosters-triumph-in-epic-finale.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Roosters triumph in epic finale
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Roosters triumph in epic finale
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar