Roosters hang on to beat wounded Broncos

A two try haul from Australian fullback Anthony Minichiello has kept the Roosters faint finals hopes alive as they battled to a 17-10 victory against the Brisbane Broncos in a scrappy affair at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.

The win moved the Roosters to 24 competition points but are still at the mercy of other results if they are to make another appearance in September this season. The Broncos on the other hand have now lost four in a row and risk losing the minor premiership to the in-form Dragons, Eels or Tigers who have closed right onto their heels in recent weeks.

The Broncos have been decimated by injuries to key personnel and entered the match without the services of Darren Lockyer, Shane Webcke, Justin Hodges, Brett Seymour and Casey McGuire which forced them into using the unfamiliar halves combination of Shaun Berrigan and teenager Berrick Barnes. The Roosters also made some changes in the halves to start the match with Brett Finch demoted to the bench in favour of Craig Wing.

The Broncos started the game in ideal fashion in the fifth minute when the ultra-talented Karmichael Hunt burst through some weak defence to touch down and give them a 4-0 lead.

Both teams seemed without direction for the majority of the first half with plenty of blown chances and dropped ball turning the game into a battle of attrition. Roosters coach Ricky Stuart threw Finch into the game after just 15 minutes but he too was prone to error.

The class of Minichiello brought about the equalizing try for the Roosters in the 23rd minute when he threw an excellent cut-out pass to Amos Roberts who scored to tie the game at 4-4. The fullback was involved again late in the half when Finch opened up the Brisbane defence and passed it to Minichiello who crossed the line but was denied by the video referee who ruled that he had lost control of the ball.

The Roosters made the perfect start to the second stanza when in the 44th minute they spread the ball to the left and found Adrian Morley who got a hand free and offloaded to Minichiello who scored his first try. Craig Fitzgibbon converted for a 10-4 Sydney lead.

The Broncos were generally flat in attack with the exception of Karmichael Hunt who was outstanding throughout as he took on a first or second receiver role for the majority of the game. Hunt’s role became even more vital after Barnes left the field just ten minutes into the second half with a knee injury.

A Fitzgibbon penalty goal made the margin eight points, but it was the play from the ensuing Broncos kick-off that just about closed the game out for the Roosters. The hit up was taken by Anthony Tupou who shrugged off two Broncos tacklers and found a flying Minichiello who raced 80m and out-sprinted his opposite number to score his second try and give the Bondi side a 16-4 lead.

With the game fast getting out of reach for the Broncos, they suddenly found some more spark in attack as Hunt stepped and jigged his way to the line before Amos Roberts knocked the ball loose as the 19-year-old was about to score. The Broncos kept trying and it was their stand-in captain Petero Civoniceva who crashed over in the 66th minute to pull them within a converted try with time ticking down.

Roberts had a chance to put some insurance into the lead five minutes later but spilled the ball with only air between him and the try-line. It proved of little consequence however when with six minutes remaining in the contest Brett Finch kicked a wobbly old field goal to put the Roosters up by seven and put the nails in the Broncos coffin.

The match was by no means a glamorous affair, but the performance of the two fullbacks was worth the price of admission. Brisbane fans have plenty of reasons to be excited about their young star Hunt who showed a lot of maturity and composure in attack and looks to have the making of a future five-eighth if given the opportunity in Lockyer’s absence.

Minichiello was the undisputed man-of-the-match in a game that was also a celebration for Luke Ricketson who played his 300th game for the club, joining Cronulla’s Andrew Ettingshausen and Manly’s Cliff Lyons as the only players to crack the milestone for the one team.

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