MITCHELL Pearce has won a see-sawing golden-point classic 13-12 for the Roosters, with his 84th-minute field goal a dagger through the hearts of the valiant Dragons in an epic Anzac Day match that lived up to its billing.
First the star No.7 scored the Roosters' go-ahead try in the 66th minute before cooly nailing the winning one-pointer in front of more than 40,000 fans at Allianz Stadium.
Dugan had the kicking responsibilities because Gareth Widdop, in his 150th NRL match, left the field injured in the 37th minute and did not return.
However, it was Pearce who stood up when it mattered, shattering his hoodoo with the boot.
Pearce has been pilloried for his previous performances under pressure - having missed his previous 18 field goal attempts stretching back to 2011 and featuring in six losing Origin series.
"You work hard and you get your results".
"We've been working on it a fair bit and we got some success over the years playing off the forwards that away, and it was nice to get a try off the back of it instead of getting belted".
Roosters coach Trent Robinson said while Pearce's field goal was special, he deserved special praise for his try when he ran a neat line off Isaac Liu to barge over.
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He also said that Maoists were using tribals as fodder. "The Maoists know that development is limiting the space for them". The CRPF personnel were guarding a group of construction workers building a road in the area when the ambush took place.
The Dragons led 6-0 at the break after Joel Thompson ploughed his way over for a try which Widdop converted, but Blake Ferguson got on the end of a grubber to dot down 10 minutes into the second half.
This will be a major loss for the ladder leading Dragons, as they struggled to score on the Sydney Roosters in the second half while switching between Kurt Mann and de Belin at five-eighth.
The Tricolours looked headed for victory before Nene MacDonald spectacularly scored with two minutes on the clock and Dugan - the side's second-string kicker - booted the conversion just metres from the sideline to send the game to golden point.
Both sides traded sets before a long kick from Josh McCrone inced it's way over the dead-ball line, granting the Roosters a seven-tackle set and opening the door for Pearce to seal the match.
"We're a growing team and it was a lesson today at different stages but we spoke about mateship, courage and sacrifice and words like that; they did all that today".
In what is shaping as the tightest season on record, Tuesday's win over the high-flying Dragons moved the Roosters just two competition points behind the table-topping Storm after eight rounds.
"We lost our fullback for a period, we lost our five-eighth for a period".
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