NRL Round Up – Round 24
South Sydney’s scintillating late-season form continued with a narrow 26-24 golden-point victory over in-form North Queensland.
Two scores each from John Sutton, Eddy Pettybourne for Souths and Jonathan Thurston and Tariq Sims for the Cowboys saw the teams locked at 12-12 at the interval.
The Cowboys raced into the lead with tries from Matt Bowen and Willie Tonga but after pegging back their visitors with efforts from James Roberts and Chris McQueen to level the scores.
But a high tackle from James Segeyaro three minutes into extra time allowed Chris Sandow to slot the winning points.
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Melbourne kept their minor premiership hopes intact with a hard-fought 8-6 victory over St George.
It took until midway through the first half for Kyle Stanley to break the deadlock and put the Dragons in front, but the Storm replied with a well-worked try for Anthony Quinn and a Cameron Smith penalty to lead 8-6 at the break.
Despite the best efforts of both sets of players, neither could add to their score, leaving Melbourne to condemn the visitors to their ninth defeat of the year.
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Gold Coast registered just their sixth win of the year over fellow underachievers Canberra 26-18.
Two tries from Dominique Peyroux and Will Matthews meant the Titans held a 12-6 interval lead over their visitors.
After second half tries from David Mead and Steve Michaels, the Titans let their foot off the pedal conceding scores from David Milne and David Shillington, but held on for the win.
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The New Zealand Warriors registered a useful 26-12 victory on the road against Penrith.
Three scores in 12 minutes from Shaun Johnson, Ben Matulino and Kevin Locke ensured the visitors held a 16-0 advantage at the break.
Back-to-back Panthers tries from David Simmons and Brad Tighe gave the home side hope of a final home victory until Manu Vatuvei claimed Johnson’s grubber to seal the win.
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The Sydney Roosters produced a stunning late comeback to defeat beleaguered Cronulla 36-25.
Despite conceding an early try through Brad Takairangi, the Sharks ran in three scores from Ben Pomeroy, Wade Graham and John Williams to lead 22-12 at the break.
Despite a conceding a further try from Jake Friend, Cronulla looked to have wrapped the game up thanks to a Nathan Stapleton penalty and field goal from Graham.
However, the Roosters were not finished and notched two late tries from Frank-Paul Nuuasala and Anthony Minichiello to grab victory.
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Canterbury’s finals hopes are officially over after a 27-16 defeat to in-form Manly.
Josh Morris and Jonathan Wright scampered over after David Williams’ early score to help the Bulldogs lead 10-7 at the interval.
But three scores after the break from Manly’s Glenn Stewart, Daly Cherry-Evans and Steve Matai ensured their hopes of a top four finish remain intact.
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Wests Tigers heaped yet more misery on hapless Parramatta, beating their western Sydney rivals 31-12.
Blake Ayshford, Matt Utai and Benji Marshall crossed for the Tigers during a dominant first half performance which saw them establish a 16-0 interval lead.
Two scores from Chris Hicks and Ben Smith gave the Eels hope but the Tigers finished strongly with Ayshford grabbing a second and Beau Ryan crossing in the last minute to round off the scoring.
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Newcastle’s finals hopes are hanging by a thread after submitting meekly to a 26-6 home defeat to Brisbane.
A controversial score from Corey Parker was followed up by an effort from Justin Hodges to help the Broncos into a 10-6 lead at the break.
Three unanswered scores from Jharal Yow Yeh, Alex Glenn and Ben Hunt saw the visitors worthy winners.