Rookie Cowboys half Jake Clifford has kicked a field goal and a penalty goal to give the Cowboys a shock 3 point, 15-12 victory over the defending premiers the Sydney Roosters in Gosford today.
It was Clifford who started the scoring for the match, when in the 15th minute he drifted right, dummied and then sliced through the defence to score under the posts. Jordan Kahu converted.
Scoring was hard to come by in the next 40 minutes. Even Kahu failed to kick a penalty goal in the 25th minute.
Much of the remainder of the second half saw the Roosters giving away silly penalties when they had the Cowboys under pressure. The Roosters though looked the most threatening in attack, but just couldn't quite convert it all into points.
At halftime, the Cowboys held a 6-0 lead.
The second saw the struggle continue, but a minute of Jake Friend magic saw him kick a 40/20 and from the next set, he scored a strong try from dummy half, under the posts. Latrell Mitchell added the extras to level the scores.
Just 7 minutes later the Roosters took the lead through a great try by Brett Morris. He made a strong run towards the line, backed into the tackle, ducked under another and then using raw power, pushed his way over the line and over for a very good try. Mitchell's sideline conversion was brilliant.
With ten minutes left in the game Josh Asiata received the ball out on the right side, stopped, propped and jinked back through a tiny gap before burrowing down, planting the ball just on the line. Clifford converted.
Cronk missed a field goal in the 75th minute, Clifford missed in the 76th, Keary then missed in the 77th before Clifford missed again in the 78th minute.
With 90 seconds left, the Cowboys earnt a scrum when Friend threw a forward pass on halfway. The Cowboys moved deep into the Roosters half before Clifford kicked the field goal with 46 seconds left.
The Roosters short kick-off then went out on the full. The Cowboys received a penalty just as the siren sounded and Clifford kicked the penalty goal to seal the victory.