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
Wolly
Roar Guru
Do you follow them in any order of preference? If one of the teams you follow win a premiership does the order change? Do you see yourself supporting a sixth team should there be expansion? Hopefully you don't think I'm interrogating you but I've never heard of someone following five teams in the same competition before.
BigJ
Roar Guru
What's hard to keep track of Storm, titans, cowboys, warriors, Rabbitohs and that has never changed
The Barry
Roar Guru
Sorry mate, it's hard to keep track. You support five teams, but it's only Friday - you may pick up another couple before the weekend's out...
The Barry
Roar Guru
I thought the touchie had messed that up as well but someone put me right in the live blog.
BigJ
Roar Guru
Four Barry! Four! When are u ever going to gets your facts right???? Anyway speaking of the other four teams. Titans will beat the cowboys by 6 in a late second half comeback. Warriors will nudge out the dragons and Storm should have no problems deposing of the Tigers, as they have pretty much done that themselves. So it's looks like 3 out of 5 again this week for me.
Worlds Biggest
Guest
Souths poor first half but better in second. Chooks very sharp in first half and took advantage out wide. Game more even in second half and the Cook to AJ bombed try was huge. Roosters defence was excellent. Walker and Cook great whilst T Burgess was poor and Reyno very quiet. Souths have a huge couple of games coming up and must win one of them.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Ha! Sums up Souths game last night really.
kk
Roar Pro
Hi steveng, Mrs MAX and I watch every game on mute. I used to have ABC Radio Grandstand tuned in but the call being ahead of the game and having no way of synchronising it was not to her liking. The ABC callers are the best on League and it is a pity we cannot take advantage of their superior presentation. All facts : NOo fantasy. Watching under cover of silence requires absolute focus and you take more from the game for pleasure and future analysis. Try it steveeng, see how you go.
John
Guest
Thanks for the response Scott. If the only excuse against appointing independents doctors is cost than I am appalled. As a typical Aussie middle class bloke I have cash flow issues that sometimes prevent me from taking the most efficient option. The NRL does not have the same problem.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Ch 9 coverage was all for the Roosters, it got that bad that I had to get on my computer and watch it on NRL 'Watch Live'. It was absolutely absurd with Gould, Johns and Fiddler's every second word and comments, telling us how great the Roosters are (Ch9, replaying every one of their rants) it just got too much!!!. Very biased commentary.
Kilgore Trout
Guest
You can't blame Roosters for playing it conservative once they had got out to a good lead , but it was a pretty flat game all round . Or maybe it was that I decided to try channel nine's coverage last night for a change . Pre game and expert analysis all fine but the actual call itself was hard to endure . I stuck it out for the sake of the exercise but it won't be something I do again anytime soon . Eeeek !
Fix the scrums
Guest
How about 2 independent doctors at each game. Both doctors would have to agree if a player is fit to play on after a severe head clash. Take the decision making away from the clubs as it is now obvious they cant be relied upon to make correct calls. It will cost a bit , but law suits will be worse. The NRL is cashed up and are talking about raising the salary cap. Put a bit more aside for medical costs and look after player welfare. It will still be a contact sport but head injuries could potentially be very dangerous for players. It needs to be taken more seriously otherwise, don't blame players for taking legal action.
kk
Roar Pro
Sorry Scott. I took the liberty of taking the wording in your ninth para. to give my reading of your excellent article.
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
Its a bit of an anomaly in the rules to be fair. Most players probably don't even know it themselves as you often see them making sure they are inside the lines when getting up.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Fair enough Vincent, I must have been blinded by my 'Cardinal Red and Myrtle Green' one eyed glasses. i think I must have had my 'Black' glasses on at that stage as the Rabbits were going pretty ordinary and I could see that they were no chance of beating the Roosters. lol
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
No issues there at all according to the rules. The ball is in touch when it or a player in contact with it touches the touch line or the ground beyond the touch line or any object on or outside the touch line except when a player, tackled in the field of play, steps into touch as he regains his feet in which case he shall play-the-ball in the field of play. Section 9.1 of Rugby League Laws of The Game International Level With Notes On The Laws And NRL Telstra Premiership Interpretations February 2016 You will find it on page 21. http://www.nrl.com/portals/nrl/RadEditor/Documents/ARL%20Rules%20book%202016.pdf
jezza
Guest
so I did see that! thought I must have had too many up until I read your post.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Yes that was the incident
Magnus M. Østergaard
Roar Guru
Are you talking about Connor Watson when he was regaining his feet to play the ball?
steveng
Roar Rookie
Another thing that I thought was a 'blatant' and was missed in the first half, if you watch the video, one of the Roosters players foot was over the touchline and the touchie didn't pick it up. This was 15m out on the left sidelines. The game was resumed, then the Roosters played the ball (which should have been a scrum and feed to Souths). But that is the inconsistencies of the touchies so we have to except them.