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The Sydney Roosters have continued their perfect start to the NRL Season and claimed the Ron Coote Cup with a dominant 14-point win over a hapless South Sydney Rabbitohs outfit at ANZ Stadium.
The Rabbitohs came into the game with their backs to the wall, missing a number of players through injury and suspension and struggled to mount any charge at the Roosters, who effectively had the game ended at halftime.
While the halftime score of 14-0 was never enough to feel comfortable, the Roosters always held the upper hand in the game and it was going to be difficult for Souths to fight their way back into the game, especially given what they dished up during the first half.
Errors and poor attacking options marred their first half effort, with Adam Reynolds barely getting involved when they did get on the attack, and it made life easy for the Roosters defence.
It was a different story at the other end of the park with the Bondi-based club running riot in the first half. They controlled the ball, used smart options and with Mitchell Pearce and Luke Keary looking dangerous at every turn, it wasn’t hard to see why they were dominating.
It took just six minutes for the Roosters to get on the board with Mitchell Pearce and Luke Keary throwing some wonderful passes to the left-hand edge for Latrell Mitchell to run around the defence and score, with the defence making a terrible read on the play.
Joseph Manu was the unlikely hero of the second try as he put in a fantastic pass for Michael Gordon at the line, who streaked away to score.
A penalty goal meant the Roosters take a big 14-point lead into the halftime break, completing a first half shutout of the Bunnies.
The Rabbitohs started the second half stronger than the first and actually appeared to be somewhat in control of the game. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn into points or a lead as they squandered opportunities.
While a number of drop outs were forced, they couldn’t find their way over the line, with the Roosters defence doing what it had to do.
Eventually, debutant Sitiveni Moceidreke would cross to get the Rabbitohs on the board and keep the game alive.
A nice bit of work from Adam Reynolds created space on the right for the youngster to score, but Reynolds not being involved enough was another key sticking point of the second half.
The game evened up from there with the rain falling at Homebush and when Daniel Tupou crossed in the corner on the back of another special play the game looked all but over.
The Redfern-based club had their fair share of opportunities during the final 20 minutes, but didn’t go close to troubling the Roosters on the scoreboard, with their defence holding solid.
The Roosters will now get ready to tackle the struggling Manly Sea Eagles next Friday night while the Rabbitohs will be desperate for a turnaround but will have to do things the hard way against the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville.
In the end at Homebush though, the Roosters far too strong for the understrength Rabbitohs.
Tries: Rabbitohs (1), Roosters (3)
Conversions: Rabbitohs (1/1), Roosters (3/3)
Penalty goals: Rabbitohs (nil), Roosters (1/1)
Possession: Rabbitohs (51%), Roosters (49%)
Completions: Rabbitohs (30/40), Roosters (29/37)
All runs: Rabbitohs (182), Roosters (165)
All run metres: Rabbitohs (1633), Roosters (1446)
Line breaks: Rabbitohs (3), Roosters (6)
Offloads: Rabbitohs (4), Roosters (11)
Tackles: Rabbitohs (334), Roosters (335)
Missed tackles: Rabbitohs (25), Roosters (39)
Penalties: Rabbitohs (6), Roosters (4)
Errors: Rabbitohs (14), Roosters (10)
South Sydney Rabbitohs 6
Sydney Roosters 20