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The Roar

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Highlights: Roosters take third win of 2016 in the wet

(Robb Cox ©nrlphotos.com)
Expert
5th June, 2016
0

It looked more like dry weather rugby league in horrible conditions at Allianz Stadium as the Sydney Roosters recorded a 16-point win over the Wests Tigers.

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The weather, which has smashed most of the New South Wales and southern Queensland coast over the last 24 hours kept the fans away – only 3,000 at the game, but no one told the players how they were supposed to play.

It was entertaining as the ball was thrown around and a total of 50 points were scored, the Roosters managing to dominate most of the game through limiting errors, kicking well and finding a perfect mix of creativity and neutralisation – as well as that, they controlled possession and were able to roll up the field with absolute ease more often than not.

The Roosters were controlled by Jackson Hastings and Ryan Matterson – but the x-factor player was Jake Friend who wanted to kick the ball as much as possible and did a fantastic job of it having a hand in a few tries and getting his team out of their own end a few times.

With Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Sam Moa, Dylan Napa and Kane Evans dominating up the middle for the Roosters, Wests struggled to get into the game with only the kicking of Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks keeping them in it.

The Tigers weren’t helped by losing James Tedesco for quarter of an hour to a concussion test though, while Latrell Mitchell would take nearly no part in the second half due to a knee injury.

The one Tigers forward who seemed to stand up was Chris Lawrence down the left hand side, who ran the ball incredibly hard whenever he got the opportunity and was forever looking to create opportuities.

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Errors also affected the Tigers in a big way during the match, allowing the boys from Bondi to mount pressure.

Latrell Mitchell would open the scoring for the Roosters off a fantastic short ball from Jackson Hastings. Aiden Guerra ran a nice decoy and Mitchell would cross untouched.

Daniel Tupou would then cross again five minutes later off a great set play to the left with the last flat pass from Dale Copley.

The Tigers got themselves on the scoreboard through Tim Simona with a long range try, set up from an Aaron Woods offload to Kevin Naiqama who took off down the sideline, passed into Moses, then Tedesco and Simona would race away to score.

The Roosters continued to extend their lead with a try to Blake Ferguson ten minutes from half time from a nice flat short ball of Jackson Hastings, before the Tigers scored right on the stroke of halftime after a Ferguson error and a lovely set play that saw Tedesco put Simona over in the corner off a two on one situation.

Sydney would have been well and truly frustrated at halftime that the lead was only six points, given their domination and the try on the stroke of halftime.

The Tigers looked to mount pressure early in the half, but couldn’t crack the Roosters line and ended up being overwhelmed, once again by Roosters front row rotation.

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Aiden Guerra would be the man to score first in the second half, benefiting from a very nice bit of work from Jake Friend who threaded a grubber kick through the line early in the tackle count.

James Tedesco would put the Tigers back within eight points following a penalty goal, scoring under the posts with some very fancy footwork, getting through the defence after both Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses were involved in the play.

Connor Watson would put the game on ice for the Roosters though, with a shift to the left and Aiden Guerra managed to make a good offload out of a tackle, and Watson touched down in the corner.

Regardless of the result, full credit to all the players for putting on an attacking game in tough conditions – one you would have expected to be tight up and down the middle with less than four or five tries. The goal kickers as well in the wind and rain were incredible, not missing one between them.

So in Sydney, the Roosters record their third win of the season and keep finals hopes – albeit unrealistic – alive.

Final score
Sydney Roosters 32
Wests Tigers 18

Stats
Tries: Roosters (5), Tigers (3)
Goals: Roosters (5/5), Tigers (3/3)
Penalty Goals: Roosters (1/1), Tigers (0/0)
Possession: Roosters (55 per cent), Tigers (45 per cent)
Completions: Roosters (29/36), Tigers (26/35)
All runs: Roosters (167), Tigers (139)
All Run metres: Roosters (1683), Tigers (1219)
Line breaks: Roosters (5), Tigers (3)
Offloads: Roosters (9), Tigers (8)
Tackles: Roosters (254), Tigers (326)
Missed Tackles: Roosters (13), Tigers (15)
Errors: Roosters (7), Tigers (9)
Penalties: Roosters (3), Tigers (5)

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The Roar’s NRL MVP votes
3 – Jake Friend
2 – Ryan Matterson
1 – Jared Waerea Hargreaves

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