The Sydney Roosters have held off a fierce Western Suburbs Magpies fightback to win 44-28 in Round 25, to keep their finals hopes alive heading into the last round of The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup regular season.
The Magpies, already eliminated from finals contention, made life difficult early for the Roosters, racing to a 12-0 lead through tries to Bailey Hodges and Javon Andrews, with Andrews converting both tries.
The Roosters, needing victory to keep alive their hopes of a finals appearance, responded in spectacular fashion. Tom Rodwell crossed twice down the touch-line, Reece Foley added a try of his own, as the Roosters grasped a 18-12 lead.
Finding another try to Hayden Barton before the halftime siren sounded, the Roosters entered the sheds with confidence, leading 26-12.
The second half continued in similar fashion before Western Suburbs mounted a serious comeback. Toby Rodwell opened the scoring in the second half for the Roosters to extend their lead, before a barnstorming run and try from Magpies prop Vaka Aho sparked a comeback.
Fiohiva Siale Fainga' was at the heart of the comeback, scoring back-to-back tries, while Ben Stevanovic slotted a rare conversion to push the margin back to just four points at 32-28.
Just as the Magpies threatened to complete the upset, the Roosters found another gear. Toby Rodwell stepped up for his side producing a crucial 40/20 that saw Taylor Losalu find the try line, before he crossed again in the closing stages to restore control and see the home side home 44-28.
Talking Points
- Javon Andrews' injury late in the match proved costly for the Magpies, having the close out the match without their star playmaker who is in career-best form and already earning an NRL debut this season.
- Starford To'a and Mavrik Geyer both had a stint in the sin-bin, making things difficult for their side to hold off a determined Roosters pack with 12-men on the field for 20-minutes.
- Toby Rodwell continues to press his case as one of the competition's premier halves, adding a try, a game-changing 40/20 and a perfect goal-kicking display to his season resume.
- The Roosters' defensive frailties remain a concern heading into the run home, having now conceded plate loads of points across their last six outings despite the attacking fire-power on show.
Key Moment
Taylor Losalu’s try to restore an eight-point buffer, coming immediately after Geyer’s sin-binning, snuffed out the Magpies' momentum at the most dangerous point of their comeback and proved decisive in securing the Roosters' win.
What's next?
The Roosters now enter the bye needing the Warriors to lose to the Knights next week to sneak into the top five and play finals, while the Magpies, already out of contention, return home to host the Rabbitohs in the final game of the year.
