Brendan Wood reviews the Sydney Roosters emphatic 38-16 win over the Wests Tigers on Saturday night. Here’s how the game went.
MATCH TIMELINE
| Minute | Scoring Play | Score |
| 8th | Try – Matt Ikuvalu (Roosters) | Roosters 6-0 |
| 15th | Try – Brett Morris (Roosters) | Roosters 12-0 |
| 17th | Try – Josh Morris (Roosters) | Roosters 16-0 |
| 26th | Try – Brett Morris (Roosters) | Roosters 20-0 |
| 46th | Try – Jacob Liddle (Tigers) | Roosters 20-6 |
| 53rd | Try – Adam Doueihi (Tigers) | Roosters 20-12 |
| 65th | Try – Drew Hutchison (Roosters) | Roosters 26-12 |
| 69th | Try – Joseph Manu (Roosters) | Roosters 32-12 |
| 72nd | Try – Josh Morris (Roosters) | Roosters 38-12 |
| 80th | Try – David Nofoaluma (Tigers) | Roosters 38-16 |
MATCH SUMMARY
1st Half
The first five minutes were an arm wrestle as both sides tried to gain the ascendancy. Eventually the Tigers made an error coming out of their own half, which resulted in first points for the Roosters. The visitors spread the ball to the left wing for Matt Ikuvalu to score in the corner.
It wasn’t long before the Roosters had their second try of the night. James Tedesco made his mark on the game when he split the Tigers defence on the halfway line. Off the back of the linebreak, the Roosters found an overlap on the right wing and Brett Morris reaped the rewards, scoring in his first game back from injury.
In the following set, the Roosters again split the Tigers defence open through Sitili Tupouniua. He found a wide open Josh Morris on his outside who scored untouched, extending the lead to 16 points.ย Despite the Tigers best efforts, they couldn’t get anything going their way with the bounce of the ball favouring the Roosters early.
The Morris brothers continued their dominance on the score sheet, this time it was Brett Morris making it look too easy. Kyle Flanagan threw a cut-out pass to give Morris an open run to the line for his second try.
The remainder of the first half was uneventful, with errors creeping into the game for both sides limiting attacking opportunities. The Roosters holding onto a comfortable 20 point lead at the break.
2nd Half
The Tigers came out of the break full of energy. They started with throwing the ball around in attack, which unsettled the usually sturdy defence of the Roosters. They finally got some luck with some six again calls going their way and as a result, they had their first points of the night.
Jacob Liddle ran the ball from dummy half and reached out to get the ball over the line. Less than 10 minutes later they had the Roosters on the back foot again. With the defence retreating, Benji Marshall threw a cut-out pass for Adam Doueihi to burst through a gap and score.
The Roosters had the next shot at scoring after withstanding an attacking onslaught and wrestling back momentum. James Tedesco threw a cut-out pass looking for Brett Morris, but the pass was intercepted by Tommy Talau. He raced 70 metres before finally being pulled down.
Despite the intercept, the Tigers failed to take advantage of the opportunity. After holding off the Tigers again, the Roosters wouldn’t make the same mistake. In their next attacking set, Siosiua Taukeiaho cut back towards the posts and gave Drew Hutchison an open run to score and extend the lead.
This was a demoralising try for the Tigers and effectively snuffed out any attempt of a comeback. From here the Roosters ran riot, with a try to Joseph Manu and another to Josh Morris in the next five minutes.
The Tigers managed to grab a late consolation try through David Nofoaluma, but it was too little too late as the Roosters ran away with a dominant 38-16 win to move back into the top four.
GAME HIGHLIGHT
The highlight of the game was the way the Roosters started the game despite the mass injury toll they face. They held the Tigers to nil in the first half, the 46th time they have held a team scoreless in the first half under Trent Robinson.
The halves and James Tedesco were especially noteworthy. Their combinations in attack were all solid and made it look like the Roosters weren’t missing the class of Luke Keary at times. Tedesco took more control in attack, playing more like a third half than a fullback in attack. The Morris brothers were back to their destructive best, both scoring doubles to prove just how good this injury crippled Roosters team still can be.
SQUADS
Tigers: 1. Adam Doueihi 2. David Nofoaluma 3. Joseph Leilua 4. Moses Mbye 5. Tommy Talau 6. Luke Brooks 7. Benji Marshall 8. Josh Aloiai 9. Jacob Liddle 10. Russell Packer 11. Luke Garner 12. Luciano Leilua 13. Matt Eisenhuth Bench:ย 15. Elijah Taylor 16. Josh Reynolds 18. Alex Twal 19. Thomas Mikaele
Roosters: 1. James Tedesco 2. Matt Ikuvalu 3. Josh Morris 4. Joseph Manu 5. Brett Morris 6. Drew Hutchison 7. Kyle Flanagan 8. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves 9. Jake Friend 10. Siosiua Taukeiaho 11. Sitili Tupouniua 12. Nat Butcher 13. Isaac Liu Bench: 14. Freddy Lussick 15. Poasa Faamausili 16. Daniel Fifita 17. Lindsay Collins
