Roosters reign supreme in World Club Challenge

The Sydney Roosters have picked up right where they left off in 2018, defeating the Wigan Warriors 20-8 at DW Stadium to win the World Club Challenge title for a record-equaling fourth time.

Despite several changes in personnel from the team who took the field in last year’s grand final against Melbourne, the tricolours showed they were still the team to beat in an impressive display.

New recruit Brett Morris proved himself a worthy addition to the team, scoring a hat-trick in his debut outing for the club, the first of which came just three minutes into the contest as he outmuscled three Wigan defenders to cross the line.

Morris would score his second just seven minutes later, with prop Siosiua Taukeiaho landing the conversion to take the Roosters out to a ten point lead in as many minutes.

In addition to their superiority in attack, the defending NRL Premiers successfully overwhelmed Wigan in defence as well, landing several hard shots on their opponents during the opening stages of the game.

The physicality reached a boiling point in the 17th minute, as Roosters prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves was penalised for a tackling indiscretion on Liam Farrell, which came after a late hit on Warriors hooker Liam Powell.

Wigan would capitalise on this indiscretion through a try to winger Tom Davies, who scored in the corner to reduce the margin to six points.

Following the try to Davies, a rejuvenated Wigan began to dish out some bruising physicality of their own, with forward Joe Greenwood gaining a measure of retribution on Jared Waerea-Hargreaves following a brutal hit on the New Zealand hardman.

This fight back would not last very long, however, as the Roosters began to reassert their ascendency in the game only a few minutes later, taking advantage of Wigan’s lack of urgency in defence.

Morris, who was playing in his second World Club Challenge game following his outing with St George Illawarra in 2011, scored his third try of the match ten minutes from halftime, finishing off a brilliantly executed set piece.

Morris became the second Rooster to score a hat-trick in the World Club Challenge, the first being Michael Jennings in 2014, which also came against Wigan.

The halftime score of 14-4 was generous to Wigan, who found themselves outmatched time and again by the class of the Roosters outfit.

The Roosters almost added to their lead early in the second stanza, as Matt Ikuvalu almost crossed the line before being bundled over touch by three Wigan defenders.

Implementing more of a free-flowing game plan, the Warriors created several scoring opportunities for themselves immediately following the halftime break, and looked far more threatening than the team which took the field during the opening forty minutes.

The tricolours acknowledged their opponents’ newfound determination as they opted for a penalty goal in the 59th minute, extending their lead to two converted tries.

Warriors winger Liam Marshall gave the home crowd some hope as he crossed the line in the 64th minute, saving a stray George Williams pass with his foot before touching down in the corner with inches to spare.

Zak Hardaker’s missed conversion attempt, however, ensured that Wigan would still need two scoring opportunities to win the game.

Despite creating several chances, Wigan were unable to convert these opportunities into points as they committed several costly errors at key moments.

After regaining possession from their own dropout in the 73rd minute, Wigan looked a slight chance of reducing the margin even further, before a forced pass on the fourth tackle went over the sideline, thus creating a turnover in possession at a critical moment in the game.

The Warriors would attempt another short dropout only moments later when they were tackled in their own goal yet again, but their effort failed to produce the desired result as the Roosters gained possession just ten metres out from Wigan’s line.

Several tackles later, winger Daniel Tupou sealed the result for his side when he caught a well-placed Luke Keary kick and duly touched down in the corner.

Brett Morris’ man-of-the-match honours earned him the distinct recognition of being the only player in the history of the World Club Challenge to have won the award twice.

ROOSTERS 20 (B.Morris 3, D.Tupou tries; S.Taukeiaho goal) beat WIGAN 8 (L.Marshall, T.Davies tries) at DW Stadium.