Roosters receive heritage lesson
By Liam FitzGibbon
April 20, 2008
NEWCASTLE coach Brian Smith praised his side for overcoming a lop-sided penalty count to pull off a remarkable comeback and blow away the Sydney Roosters 34-20 in their NRL match at Bluetongue Stadium.
The Knights trailed 20-12 at half-time but piled on 22 unanswered points in the second half to snap a three-game losing streak and break the Roosters' winning run of as many games.
Two late tries to Knights five-eighth Chris Bailey and a stunning last-minute 60-metre try to 110kg prop Danny Wicks sealed the result after winger Cooper Vuna had got the Knights back within four with 10 minutes on the clock.
Smith, while believing his side played "well below" what they had in recent weeks during three straight losses, was relieved to get the two points after being on the wrong end of referee Steve Lyons' penalty count.
Asked what factors had contributed to the win, Smith replied: "I wouldn't suggest it would be the 8-2 penalty count including a penalty-less entire half of footy - again.
"We just can't buy them. I would toss up some cash if I thought it would help us get a penalty or two."
Smith picked the turning point as the moment when Roosters half-back Mitchell Pearce failed to find touch with a kick from a penalty late in the second half.
Bailey scored his first try moments later before Kurt Gidley converted to put the Knights in front for the first time.
"Ironically, probably that failure to find touch on one of the eight penalties they had in the second half was probably the turning point , it put more pressure back on them," Smith said.
"Somehow or other we hung in for long enough and held the ball well enough."
Knights captain Danny Buderus said a half-time "rocket" from Smith and a warning from the coach that no team with a 2-4 win-loss record has gone on to make the top eight, helped inspire the turnaround.
"We just weren't playing for each other in the first half and I think once we did that the game changed and we looked like a football team," Buderus said.
The Roosters had launched an aerial assault in the first half, with bombs by Braith Anasta and Mitchell Pearce setting up tries for Craig Fitzgibbon, Iosia Soliola and Shaun Kenny-Dowall, while Amos Roberts also crossed.
Forward Jesse Royal and Cory Paterson scored Newcastle's first-half tries to keep them within touch and, after a sloppy opening to the second half, they finished all over the tiring Roosters.
Wicks' spectacular final try provided the most unlikely of endings for the entertaining match, the 190cm, 110kg prop smashing through the line and fending off several attempted tackles in his 60 metre effort to score under the posts.
Fitzgibbon admitted the Roosters were just outplayed, while coach Brad Fittler agreed Newcastle were the better team.
"They just keep coming at you, they're an enthusiastic side and they just wore us down," Fittler said.
"The best team won, at times we looked like the stronger team but we never looked like the more enthusiastic or the hungrier team."
The sour notes of the victory for the Knights came through an ankle injury to prop Richard Fa'aoso, while Buderus was placed on report for an elbow to the head of full-back Sam Perrett.
