Sydney Roosters came from behind to defeat North Queensland Cowboys 22-16 today at Allianz Stadium to maintain their hold on second position on the NRL ladder.
The Roosters came into the game retaining the 17 players who had been named on Tuesday, but Shaun Fensom (ribs) was out for the Cowboys and was replaced by Braden Uele on the bench.
North Queensland led 16-6 at half-time, although the Roosters had opened the scoring after two minutes when Luke Keary fed Latrell Mitchell, who raced 60 metres to the tryline.
But the Cowboys dominated the rest of the first half, scoring in the 18th minute as Te Maire Martin linked up with Lachlan Coote for Kane Linnett to run into a gap to touch down.
Coote then delivered a pass to Kyle Feldt for a try in the right-hand corner, before Coen Hess got the ball down for a controversial Cowboys try that was confirmed by the Bunker.
The second half was a different story, however, with the Roosters scoring tries from Daniel Tupou, Sio Siua Taukeiaho and Luke Keary to take a 22-16 lead, with the Cowboys unable to get on the scoreboard in the second half.
Roosters: 1 Connor Watson, 2 Daniel Tupou, 3 Latrell Mitchell, 4 Joseph Manu, 5 Blake Ferguson, 6 Luke Keary, 7 Mitchell Pearce, 8 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (c), 9 Victor Radley, 10 Dylan Napa, 11 Ryan Matterson, 12 Mitchell Aubusson (c), 13 Isaac Liu; Interchange: 14 Zane Tetevano, 15 Sio Siua Taukeiaho, 16 Aidan Guerra, 17 Mitchell Cornish
Tries: Mitchell, Tupou, Taukeiaho, Keary; Goals: Mitchell 2, Taukeiaho
Cowboys: 1 Lachlan Coote, 2 Kyle Feldt, 3 Justin O’neill, 4 Kane Linnett, 5 Antonio Winterstein, 6 Te Maire Martin, 7 Michael Morgan, 8 John Asiata, 9 Jake Granville, 10 Scott Bolton, 11 Gavin Cooper (c), 12 Ethan Lowe, 13 Jason Taumalolo; Interchange: 14 Benjamin Hampton, 15 Coen Hess, 17 Corey Jensen, 18 Braden Uele.
Tries: Linnett, Feldt, Hess; Goals: Lowe 2
Monday’s edition of League Express, available in the shops or online, will feature full coverage of all the weekend’s NRL matches.
