Newcastle 14 Sydney Roosters 16
ALL the talk after the game was of how much heat Newcastle had put on Sydney Roosters halfback Mitchell Pearce when he was trying to get kicks away. The Knights sure let him know they were around. But, at the end of the day, it was the Roosters who sank the boot into their opponents, with all three of their tries coming from Braith Anasta bombs.
The Knights did a lot of work before the game on trying to reduce the effect of the Roosters when they put boot to ball within try-scoring range. The Roosters have scored more tries off kicks than any other team this season, and - even though the Knights may have harassed and hurried them at times - they did it again at EnergyAustralia Stadium yesterday.
So it is obviously harder said than done to stop the rot, yet, ironically, it was a last-minute bomb from Newcastle halfback Jarrod Mullen that almost decided the game in favour of the home side. It came down as anyone's ball, and guess who forced it dead in-goal for the Roosters? Pearce. He knows only too well the danger of a pinpoint kick.
Pearce spent 30 minutes in an ice bath after the game, but while it may have numbed the pain in his left elbow from one of those Newcastle hits, it didn't completely deaden it. He gingerly put his shirt on before talking about his day, and he has clearly learned from his father, former Test star Wayne Pearce, that you don't go around complaining about copping a few knocks.
"They're going to target me all the time," Pearce said. "I'm probably the lightest bloke in the team. But we do it to other teams - it's all part of the game. I got a couple of knocks out there - it was a pretty tough game - but my elbow will be sweet. I'm just happy to get the win."
It is up to a coach to make NRL officials aware of anything he considers illegal. Coaches can be subtle in doing that, or they can cut to the chase. Brad Fittler chose the latter.
"He played a bit wounded," he said of Pearce. "They sent some big blokes at him, and our blokes didn't do a lot to help him in the first half. But he seems to get taken out a bit after he kicks or passes the ball, and if they don't police that we'll have to start doing the same, because we're not playing on a fair playing field."
For his part, Knights coach Brian Smith said you couldn't give dangerous playmakers free rein, and the sort of pressure evident yesterday was an accepted part of the game.
"He [Pearce] is a mighty fine player and the fulcrum for a lot of those kick-tries," he said. "So, with respect to 'Freddy', I'm not sure if he wants us to stand aside and let him do it. He [Pearce] is going to be around for a long time, and he will get more than he got today. He withstood a good hit from [Knights lock] Zeb Taia very early on and played the full 80 minutes, and that's the sign of a good player."
On one occasion, when Pearce was tackled after a kick, he stayed on the ground hurt, and a Roosters trainer helped him towards the sideline before he was able to resume his place in the defensive line. The trainer then ran by referee Tony Archer on his way off the field and said something. Presumably, he suggested the hit was late. On another occasion, prop Mark O'Meley said, fellow Roosters forward Willie Mason threatened to deal out his own justice.
"'Mase' said to Tony Archer, 'Watch the pressure on the kicks or I'm going to do something,"' O'Meley said. "Archer said he had it under control, but Mase said, 'No, I'm getting fed up with it. I'll have to do something about it."'
It never came to that. There was a game to be won and lost, and since there was never more than a converted try between the two teams and just two points between them for most of the second half, players had to concentrate on doing their jobs or risk being the one who made a mistake and cost his team the game.
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