The 2010 NRL season consisted of 26 weekly regular season rounds, starting on 12 March and ending on 5 September, followed by four weeks of play-offs culminating in the grand final on 3 October.
The 2010 NRL Second Qualifying Final was a rugby league match contested between the Wests Tigers and Sydney Roosters in the first week of the 2010 NRL finals series on 11 September 2010. The match is notable as it was the first finals match to be played under the golden point rule since it was introduced in 2003. The match was hailed as "one of the greatest matches in recent memory".
Both the Sydney Roosters and Wests Tigers had qualified for the NRL finals series, held annually during September of every NRL season, after varying absences: the Roosters had finished last in 2009 after reaching the finals in 2008, whilst the Tigers had not reached the finals since winning the premiership in 2005. The Tigers recorded their best ever regular season by winning 15 of its 24 matches and finishing third on the ladder, both surpassing the previous records set in 2005, whilst the Roosters won 14 of their 24 matches to finish sixth at the end of the regular season.
The McIntyre final eight system, which was in place at the time, meant that the two teams were to be drawn against each other in the first week of the finals. The Roosters had won both of their meetings in the regular season, by 12 points in Round 2 and by four points in Round 8.
The Tigers had three chances, through Gareth Ellis, to score the first try of the match within the first 13 minutes, however, on each occasion, he was denied: first after Todd Carney had dislodged the ball from his hands, the second after he was held up over the line by some desperate Roosters defence, and the third after Benji Marshall was penalised for an off-the-ball incident with Mitchell Pearce. They were, however, the most dominant team of the first half, scoring two tries, through Lote Tuqiri and Beau Ryan, to the Roosters' sole penalty goal (kicked by Carney), and taking a 10–2 lead into half-time.
Ellis was placed on report in the 18th minute for a high shot on Carney; he subsequently escaped any judiciary sanction over the incident.
Blake Ayshford scored first for the Tigers eight minutes into the second half, and, following by a field goal by captain Robbie Farah soon after, the Tigers' lead had stretched to 15–2, and it appeared the match was won. However, the Roosters would score two converted tries, both set up by Todd Carney for captain Braith Anasta and Mitchell Pearce, to narrow the margin to 15–14 with less than ten minutes left to play in regular time.
Simon Dwyer later appeared to win the match for the Tigers with two minutes remaining when he hit Jared Waerea-Hargreaves hard in the 78th minute of play, thus dislodging the ball from the latter's hands. This won the Tigers a scrum feed inside the Roosters' half, however, after Benji Marshall had fed the scrum, the Roosters pounced on the loose ball, giving them one last chance to win the match in the final minute. After initially trying to go for a match winning try, the ball found the hands of Braith Anasta, who kicked the match-tying field goal with mere seconds left, to send the match into golden point extra time.
For the first time since golden point was introduced by the NRL in 2003, a finals match was to be decided by golden point. Whereas in a regular season match the final result would be a draw after neither team scored in ten minutes of golden point, in finals matches, the match goes on for an indefinite period until any team scored through any method (try, penalty goal, field goal).
Following a scoreless first five minutes of extra time, play continued indefinitely during which Robbie Farah, Todd Carney and Mitchell Pearce all missed attempted field goal shots until Shaun Kenny-Dowall was able to intercept a Liam Fulton pass and run sixty metres to score the match winning try in the 100th minute of the match, thus completing one of the greatest comebacks in Roosters history, winning the match 19–15.
<sup>1</sup> No conversion on goal was required following Kenny-Dowall's try, as golden point rules stipulate that a try scored in golden point is not needed to be converted.
In a match which pitted two of the game's entertainers (Benji Marshall and Todd Carney) up against each other, the match did not disappoint. It has been remembered as "one of the greatest Roosters victories of all time", as well as "one of the most epic matches in recent times". In particular, the final five minutes in regular time proved to be the most dramatic of the match, whereby Benji Marshall left the field injured, leaving the Tigers with only 12 men. The Tigers had failed to capitalise on a Roosters error with two minutes remaining in the match, allowing the Roosters to kick the match-levelling field goal in the final seconds of regular time, sending the match into extra time, which was remembered by many for its nail-biting finish.
The result of this match, and the format of the final eight system, meant that the Tigers would only survive in the finals series if at least one of the two higher-ranked teams (St. George Illawarra or Penrith) won their respective qualifying final ties against the Sea Eagles and the Raiders. The Panthers' loss to the Raiders left the Tigers at risk of an early elimination, however they survived after the Dragons defeated the Sea Eagles in their qualifying final. They were then drawn against the Canberra Raiders, the lowest-ranked of the qualifying final winners, in a match that was to be played at Canberra Stadium.
The Tigers narrowly defeated Canberra by 26–24, thus progressing them to the preliminary finals, where they were eventually defeated by the eventual premiers, St. George Illawarra, 13–12.
The Roosters were guaranteed to remain in the finals series, regardless of any other subsequent results. However, as the third-highest ranked of the four winning teams from the first weekend of the finals series, they had to play in the second week of the finals series; they were subsequently drawn against the Penrith Panthers, the highest-ranked loser from the qualifying finals. The Roosters won 34–12, to progress to the semi-finals, where they defeated the Gold Coast Titans by 26 points to eventually make the grand final. However, the finals series eventually took its toll on the Roosters and they were soundly beaten by the Dragons 32–8 in the premiership deciding match.=