The Sydney Roosters have recorded an important victory on Saturday night, turning a ten-point halftime deficit into a narrow six-point victory.
Final score
Sydney Roosters 22
North Queensland Cowboys 16
It’s a battle with enormous finals implications between two sides battling for a spot in the top four when the Sydney Roosters host the North Queensland Cowboys. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 7:30pm (AEST).
On Friday night, the Eels made it five straight wins with an upset win over the third-placed Broncos in Sydney. There is a level of deja vu in this one – the lower placed Cowboys are looking to win their fifth straight and they’re outsiders according to the bookies. Similarly, they’re travelling south.
This fixture looks set to be hugely entertaining, with both sides running into the fixture on the back of strong recent form, and finals positions to play for.
In team news, the Roosters have two big blows in the loss of both Boyd Cordner and Jake Friend to ill-timed injuries.
Needless to say, Trent Robinson’s troops will have a tough time emulating the heroic carries of the Blues skipper up the middle, and players like Jared Warea-Hargreaves and Dylan Napa will have to stamp their authority early in the match to take it to the Cowboys forward pack which is humming with energy at the moment.
In other team news for the tri-colours, Victor Radley will step in at hooker while Joseph Manu returns to partner Latrell Mitchell in the centres.
On the flip side, the Cowboys all of a sudden look settled and full of confidence. They got over the loss of Johnatha Thurston remarkably quickly, and have been one of the form sides of the competition in the last month.
Michael Morgan, Jake Granville and Te Maire Martin have been immense, while Kyle Feldt, Justin O’Neill and Lachlan Coote are genuine finishers.
They welcome back Antonio Winterstein for tonight’s clash, and Braden Uele is set to debut off the bench.
Where the game will be won
I could almost copy and paste my prediction from last night’s match between the Eels and Broncos here, but the answer for me lies in the backs.
Cordner is a big loss for the Roosters, but I expect Warea-Hargreaves, Napa and co. to bring it to the Cowboys forwards. In the backs however, I think the tri-colours just shade the Cowboys for genuine pace and finishing power.
The Mitchell Pearce vs Michael Morgan battle will be enticing, and it’s whoever of these two men who can best link up with their outside backs who should get the job done for their side. Tupou, Watson and Blake Ferguson will have big games if Mitchell Pearce plays well.
Prediction
A cracking match, and the lead will change a few times. I think the Roosters will just shade the Cowboys tonight though, expect a try-fest!
Roosters by 4.
Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the match, starting from 7:30pm (AEST).
Rob
Guest
Cowboys have lost 3 from 5 under Aitken this year. Tigers and Eels recorded form reversing wins against the Cowboys this year? This season the Cowboys have lost 7 games and 3 were with Aitken with a -70 differential against Titans, Tigers, Eels, Penrith. The Roosters have won 4 from 4 + 86 points differential. Against the Eels, Tigers, Penrith? It's a great sample basis in my opinion. Same teams, same official. Vastly different results? He likes the Roosters and dislikes the Cowboys.
casper
Guest
and then the Roosters double movement try allowed, all play had stopped, the tackle was made and play had stopped. Then the chickens player hand promotes the ball. What the? and the video ref rules try on review ..... What is going on with this game, all is going well then we get this stuff. Is it because we are playing the chickens? the NSWRL glamor team lol
casper
Guest
lol Gus, what the??? where is the evidence that it wasn't a try? Even NRL.com reported this as controversial and a no try as an excuse for the horrid penalty count in the 2nd half, yet they have no evidence that it wasn't a try, yet the ruling from the referee "who was right there" was try. You chickens make things up, did someone spike your latte'
mushi
Guest
I’ll have another crack, even though the roar seems to be on a crusade against the fundamentals for statistical analysis. It does not suggest what you assert it does. First the roosters – in 13 games it’s impossible to get 57.3% so regardless they’d either be over (61.5%) or under so you’re basically blaming Aiken for not being able to give the roosters 0.51 of a win in golden point era during this 13 games? But for both have you ever heard the term sample size? Expecting 12 games for the cowboys to line up perfectly with the average from 7 years (assuming we’re including 2011) is ridiculous. The average quality of opponents will vary, the rosters of the cowboys will vary, days rest will vary, splits of home and away will potentially vary and the obvious one to anyone that has ever watched sport in their life teams don’t play exactly the same each week so performance will vary.
Mushi
Guest
Um no. Horrible sample size issues I mean epic fail issues. On the Roosters that is ridiculous if it had been 7/13 they'd be below their long run average, For the cowboys it's 12 games over a 7 year period, it will have variability in opponents, team make up and form that makes it impossible to simply juxtapose with results of the 150+ games and claim bias.
Oingo Boingo
Guest
The cows were miles offside most of the time , and got a favourable result from the refs in the first half , including a try that in my opinion wasn't one . As KC has pointed out , it's pointless blaming the refs , and if the Roosters had lost last night , it would have been on the back of a lacklustre 1st half , even though I felt the cowboys got the rub , the Roosters gifted them their opportunities. Lastly, it's been spoken about in depth lately that, the refs don't adjudicate strictly by the rules , they do it via a very loose interpretation.
kingcowboy
Guest
Na, we need to the own the result. Losers make excuses. We just need to execute better!
kingcowboy
Guest
Good game. Even though I'm disappointed with result, I'm happy with the effort. Chooks are a good team and we took them to the wire. One concern is Morgs shoulder. He has been getting smashed lately. Nothing illegal but he is just taking it to the line. We are in this comp, hopefully we take it out!
Rob
Guest
No glasses needed. Some facts GUS. Since 2011 the Cowboys have won 60.7% overall. Under Aitken referring the Cowboy have only won 5 from 12 since 2011(41%). They have won 2 of those games by 2 points scoring in the last 10 min. The Roosters have won 57.3% since 2011 and overall under Aitken in that time they are 8 from 13 (61%). The stats would suggest Aitken referees the 2 teams differently to everyone else. The difference is suspicious in my opinion.
Rob
Guest
The ref has a problem with the Cowboys in my opinion. Since 2011 the Cowboys have won 60.7% overall. Under Aitken referring the Cowboy have only won 5 from 12 since 2011(41%). They have won 2 of those games by 2 points scoring in the last 10 min. The Roosters have won 57.3% since 2011 and overall under Aitken in that time they are 8 from 13 (61%). The stats would suggest Aitken referees the 2 teams differently to everyone else. The difference is suspicious in my opinion.
Gus
Guest
More than often it's the Roosters getting hammered in the penalties - penalties were only 9 -7 and the Cows did get some leg up one's in the first half from the benevolent ref's-might be best to take your John Wayne Glasses off.
Gus
Guest
Fair try by Takihehao as you can see the ball planted on the grass over the try line- insufficient evidence to overturn on this one was that there was no advancement or double movement - Hess's 'Try' - no stage at all was the ball on or over the line - he was short of the line - I am hearing that Archer is saying it should not have been a try too. - imagine if that was a winning try in a grand final - oh sorry x team you should have won the GF as that try should not have been awarded. Best idea is for the on field ref not to say try or no try and just refer it to the bunker for review - Bunker then reviews it and determines if it is a try or not - if they cannot see any evidence it was a try then it's a no try- not the I cannot tell if it was or not but since you ref said it was then it is guess
Gus
Guest
Cows had a mortgage on possession the first half-double- 21 sets(18 complete - 3 incomplete) to the Roosters 15(9 complete and 6 incomplete)- Second half the Roosters way 20(all completed) to Cows 14(9 complete and 5 incomplete) - both had 35 sets each in the end - Roosters 29 out of 35 Completions and Cows 27 out of 35 Completions http://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/live-scores/317218/roosters-v-cowboys-nrl-2017#team-stats Better team won on the Night
Gus
Guest
Wouldn't take much though in reading your posts
Gus
Guest
Cowboys can thank the on field ref for awarding a try that wasn`t - Hess try - the ref was the only one that thought it was a try
Scott Pryde
Expert
You're not bloody wrong Emcie.
R N
Roar Rookie
3 players where "offside", two involved in the play the ball and Uele who was close to Morgan... none of them applied pressure to Watson and the offside ruling only occurred after Uele picked up the ball. I think its important also to note that they moved inside the 10 after Watson dropped it... after he drops it what they do should be inmaterial, the knock on occurred before the infringement! Anyway, that's the complaining of cowboy fan that's annoyed at the referring and ignoring the fact that Feldt allowed in 2 try's and seemed to pull out of scoring one with the line wide open! Absolutely agree that the refs where at best inconsistent... the penalty against Coote on the 5th tackle deep in Roosters terriotory was horrendous! Like having your hands up and still getting shot!
Rob
Guest
I'm happy for them to call an offside penalty because several players were in front of kicker and moved inside the 10 when Watson dropped it. They weren't consistent thou. How did they find 5 offside and hold down penalties in a row late in the tackle count against the Cowboys? It suddenly stopped and Cowboys got 2 similar penalties when the Roosters were 6 points ahead with less than 10 to go.
Rob
Guest
Thanks for the call Nick.
Rob
Guest
The Cowboys got hammered by the officials straight after half time and the weight of possession got the Rooster back in the game. A lazy off side kick penalty gave the Roosters a soft get out of jail card after an error. Huge turning point and Cowboys didn't get another penalty until the 70th minute. They were to fatigued and desperate to get over in the last 7min. Great effort from the Boys. The last time the penalty count changed so dramatically was when the Cowboys were leading the Sharks 16-6 at half time earlier in the year? Green has to do something about Hampton off the bench and having Bolton, Big JT, and Granville off at the same time spells TROUBLE. Mosby, Leary or Ponga could be match winners.