Elinya Chenery reviews the Roosters’ big win over the Wests Tigers …
MATCHDAY RESULTS
SCOREBOARD
Sydney Roosters 72
Tries: Nat Butcher 4 (11, 29, 52, 75), Angus Crichton 2 (21, 25), Daniel Tupou 2 (55,63), James Tedesco (32), Connor Watson (43), Drew Hutchinson (47), Matthew Lodge (79)
Goals: Sam Walker 12 (13, 22, 26, 30, 34, 45, 49, 54, 57, 64, 76, 80)
Wests Tigers 6
Tries: Brent Naden (72)
Goals: Adam Doueihi (73)
MATCH REPORT
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Roosters’ final game at the SCG, a sin bin combined with a send off, and a finals position still hanging in the balance for the home side – this record-breaking Saturday night match had a bit of everything it seemed, lacking only a tight contest, with the Tigers suffering their worst defeat in the joint-venture club’s history.
The game began with two early ‘no tries’ to the Eastern Suburbs outfit, before the Roosters eventually piled on a 30-point first half effort. Back-to-back tries to Angus Crichton were bookended by a first half double from fellow second-rower Nat Butcher. As the first 40 came to a close, Crichton added a try assist to his tally with a line break and offload to superstar fullback James Tedesco for the home side’s fifth try of the evening.
The Roosters picked up exactly where they left off following the break, with Connor Watson dancing around defenders to add to the try scoring only three minutes into the second half. Drew Hutchinson got his name onto the score sheet as a result of resoundingly poor Wests Tigers defence, before Butcher benefitted from a skilled pass from Joseph Suaalii and crashed over for his hat-trick.
Daniel Tupou ran over for two consecutive tries that may be the easiest he has ever scored at the expense of tired Tigers’ defenders, setting up the sideline conversions for Sam Walker to notch up 60 for the Tricolours.
A final 10 minutes of pure chaos would see a consolation try in the form of a length-of-the-field intercept to Brent Naden, to give the visitors their only points of the night, shortly before Butcher would go over for his fourth of the match.
With only a minute left on the clock, Tigers skipper James Tamou would be cited by referee Ben Cummins for an indiscretion which resulted in the captain being sin binned. Topping off a forgettable outing for the Wests outfit, Tamou proceeded to yell some form of expletives at Cummins, to which the official responded with by changing the sin binning to a complete send off.
Following a review by The Bunker, Matt Lodge would be awarded the final points of the action-packed evening with a crash play sending him over the line on the stroke of full-time. With Walker kicking his 12th successful conversion of the evening, the final score stood at a staggering 72-6: a fitting cricket score for the swansong of the NRL at the SCG.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR POINTS
Embed from Getty Images3 pts – Nat Butcher (Roosters), 2 pts – Angus Crichton (Roosters), 1 pt – Sam Walker (Roosters)
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