The St George Illawarra Dragons have suffered a 13-12 loss in golden point extra time to the Sydney Roosters in front of the highest Anzac Day crowd on record at Allianz Stadium.
The Dragons were mightily unlucky in the early passages of play not to put points on the board.
A missed Gareth Widdop penalty goal after six minutes was compounded by a disallowed Joel Thompson try six minutes later after winger Jason Nightingale knocked on in the lead up.
The Dragons finally found first points through Thompson himself when he sliced past Aidan Guerra and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves to score.
Unfortunately skipper Widdop's game – his 150th NRL fixture – would be cut short as he suffered a medial injury shortly before the half-time break, where the Red V held a slender 6-0 lead.
The Roosters found their first points in the 49th minute when Jake Friend kicked the ball through from dummy half for winger Blake Ferguson to score.
The Roosters hit the lead for the first time in the 65th minute when halfback Mitchell Pearce shot through the Dragons' defence and scored under the uprights – holding on to the ball despite a near error.
A miss-kicked goal line drop out from Dragons fullback Josh Dugan put the Roosters ahead by six points as Roosters fullback Michael Gordon slotted a penalty goal from in front.
Dragons winger Nene Macdonald kept the Red V alive in the final three minutes when he beat four Roosters defenders to score from a wayward pass.
With Widdop injured, Dugan would slot the conversion to send the game into golden point extra time.
A field goal from Roosters halfback Mitchell Pearce four minutes into extra time would prove the difference.
Sydney Roosters 13 (Blake Ferguson, Mitchell Pearce tries; Michael Gordon 2 goals; Mitchell Pearce field goal) defeated St George Illawarra Dragons 12 (Joel Thompson, Nene Macdonald tries; Gareth Widdop, Josh Dugan goal(s)) in golden point extra time at Allianz Stadium. Half-time: Dragons 6-0. Crowd: 40,864.
