02/08/2008 10:47 PM
Mitchell Pearce has starred for the Sydney Roosters scoring three tries and laying on another as they beat the North Queensland Cowboys 32-20 in Townsville on Saturday night.
The Roosters trailed 20-12 at the break and had to rely on 22 unanswered points in the second half to ensure captain Craig Fitzgibbon was victorious in his 200th game for the club.
The visitors opened the scoring when their NSW Origin halves combined in the eighth minute. Braith Anasta slipped a ball in traffic to Pearce who beat one and then took two players over with him to score next to the posts and Fitzgibbon's conversion made it 6-0.
The Cowboys hit back three minutes later when Dayne Weston charged onto a Carl Webb short ball close to the line to score with John Williams' conversion levelling things up.
The Cowboys then stunned the visitors with two tries in three minutes. It started in the 20th minute when Mark Henry plucked a Travis Burns kick out of the air.
In a clash of bodies, Roosters fullback Sam Perrett seemed to have the ball in his grasp only for Henry to spear off toward the try line to give the Cowboys a 10-6 lead.
Luke O'Donnell, playing his first match for eight weeks, was the beneficiary of a Sione Faumuina cross field bomb that was spilt by Amos Roberts.
O'Donnell swooped on the loose ball and Williams' conversion gave the Cowboys a 16-6 lead.
The Roosters closed the gap to six when Mitchell Aubusson scored out wide after the tricolours took advantage of a compressed defensive line that was struggling after a rampaging 40m run by big Willie Mason.
The Cowboys maintained the pressure on their more fancied opponents scoring six minutes from the break.
After being gifted an extra set of six after the Roosters were penalised for a grapple tackle on the fifth tackle, the Cowboys worked their way into the quarter and Ty Williams somersaulted over next to the corner flag to take a 20-10 lead into the break.
The Roosters scored a 100m beauty in the 46th minute after Anasta somehow snuck his way back into the field of play from a Weston kick.
The Roosters spun it wide on the first with Roberts racing 50m down the right side before slipping it inside to Pearce who scored his second under the sticks. Fitzgibbon's conversion closed the gap to four, 20-16.
The visitors reclaimed the lead in the 53rd minute when Pearce grabbed his third.
A well-placed Anasta bomb deflected off Fitzgibbon's shoulder in a contest back into the halfback's arms who dived over to score next to the uprights.
The match became a grind for the next 15 minutes until a Travis Burns attempted 40/20 skewed out into touch on the full and handed the Roosters great field possession.
Three tackles later, Mason stormed over next to the posts leaving two defenders sprawled in his wake.
That gave the Roosters a match-winning 28-20 lead with eight minutes to go before Roberts rounded out the scoring in the 79th minute when he swooped on a Pearce grubber.
The Cowboys tried hard but lacked the confidence and execution to win the match when it looked there for the taking.
They dominated possession but were unable to apply enough real pressure on final-tackle plays in the Roosters' quarter.
The Roosters win keeps them in third place only two points adrift