The Roosters caused the biggest shock of the season so far against a poor Panthers side.
The Panthers have been left to count the cost of their shock defeat to the Sydney Roosters on Friday night, with fullback Dylan Edwards facing a potential stint on the sidelines after hobbling off with a quad injury. The NSW Origin fullback appeared to pick up the injury early in the second half and played on for some time before eventually succumbing to the problem, as an inexperienced Roosters side caused the upset of the season, with a controversial 38-32 victory.
Captain James Tedesco declared it the proudest win of his decorated NRL career as the injury-depleted Roosters held on to stun the four-time reigning premiers. The Roosters were $11 outsiders with bookies and were missing 788 games of first-grade experience through injury or suspension – after losing more than 1000 in the off-season. They had also failed to beat the Panthers in their past 10 meetings.
But the Chooks defied their critics, with veteran Roosters winger Daniel Tupou proving the hero for his side, with a try-saving tackle at the death. He prevented Brian To’o from scoring a try that would have given Nathan Cleary a chance to sent the contest into extra time. “I feel like it’s my proudest win,” Tedesco told reporters after the match.
No-one gave us a shot … that’s what media does and people do, they’re quick to judge. It’s on us as leaders to instil that belief in these young boys. We showed that belief tonight. We’ve set ourselves up with a performance like that. We have to keep building on that and keep getting better to produce more wins like that.”
Fans were left fuming over several questionable calls from officials throughout the game, including a crucial second half try from Tupou. Rugby convert Mark Nawaqanitawase did superbly to get his right arm free and pop a pass to the Roosters winger after crashing into some heavy Penrith defence near the tryline, but the centre’s pass appeared to go forward, prompting backlash from commentators and fans.
NRL fans erupt over ‘forward pass’ try for Roosters.
Roosters fans pointed to what many agreed was a soft sin-binning of Salesi Foketi in the final 10 minutes, to suggest that the bad calls were going both ways. The Roosters interchange forward’s shoulder appeared to brush the head of Penrith’s Scott Sorensen, with the Bunker deciding it was forceful enough to give him 10 in the bin.
Nine commentators Phil Gould and Brad Fittler were both in agreeance that it wasn’t a sin-bin offence and the Roosters were lucky to hang on for the win after Casey McLean scored moments later to set up a grandstand finish. Tupou’s last-ditch cover tackle ultimately sealed the epic win but the Panthers were their worst enemies after coughing up a whopping 46 missed tackles and 13 errors in an uncharacteristically sloppy display.
Dylan Edwards injury compounds Penrith’s pain
The shock defeat was made even worse by the quad injury to Edwards, who will be sweating on the results of scans and hoping it’s not too bad. Edwards was in obvious discomfort trying to chase down Connor Watson and stop him scoring a try, before crossing himself moments later. But the Penrith No.1 didn’t last much longer after being seen limping off the field, with both Gould and Fittler expressing their concerns for the Penrith No.1.
You can see in the way he walks, he is really heavy in the legs. At the moment the adrenaline is still going through him but it will be when (he) wakes up in the morning that it will become real hard. Hopefully there is no tear.” Gould said the most concerning thing was the fact he’d never seen Edwards pull out of a contest like he did on Friday night.
