Sydney Roosters did it tough without their Origin stars, beating an expansive Wests Tigers side 24-16.
The Roosters got the try-scoring started early on when Jared Waerea-Hargreaves offloaded nicely for Nat Butcher to score. But Ryan Matterson bounced out off tackles before scoring a quick equaliser for the hosts.
The Tigers took the lead through Esan Marsters’ penalty before Luke Keary set up Daniel Tupou by flinging the ball out wide as the Roosters took the lead back.
It took the Tigers until the second half to level the scores. Corey Thompson’s break was finished on the next play by Paul Momirovski. Then three minutes later, Marsters got on the end of Benji Marshall’s kick as Wests went in front.
But the lead switched back to the visitors when Victor Radley scored off the back of a Keary break created by Latrell Mitchell’s offload. Then Mitchell got himself a try when he hurdled over tacklers before grounding the ball.
Tigers: Thompson, Jennings, Momirovski, Marsters, Nofoaluma, Marshall, Brooks, Mikaele, Farah, Twal, Matterson, Lawrence, Eisenhuth; Interchanges: Aloiai, Liddle, Taylor, Chee-Kam
Tries: Matterson, Momirovski, Marsters; Goals: Marsters 2
Roosters: Manu, Tupou, Mitchell, Morris, Hall, Keary, Cronk, Waerea-Hargreaves, Radley, Tetevano, Butcher, Aubusson, Liu; Interchanges: Crichton, Faamausili, Tupouniua, Verrills
Tries: Butcher, Tupou, Radley, Mitchell; Goals: Mitchell 4
On report: Tetevano (11) – dangerous tackle
Full match reports of all four of this weekend’s NRL games will feature in Monday’s League Express.
