Live Update » League Unlimited

80

And O'Donnell is tackled for the last time in the match - the Roosters running out winners, 34 points to 10. For the Roosters, Jennings, Tupou and Maloney were great - for the Dragons, there were less impressive performances, but Cooper held his head high in defense, as always, and Nightingale didn't do too much wrong either.

Sydney Roosters 34-10

79

NO TRY
From the Video, Morris has had an airswing, and the ball goes dead. It's a 20m restart to the Roosters.

Sydney Roosters 34-10

79

VIDEO REFEREE PENDING
Soward darts infield, and the chips the ball left looking for Morris. The referee thinks it's a no-try, but we'll double check.

Sydney Roosters 34-10

78

And again the Roosters are penalised, this time for a shoulder charge. Mitchell Pearce is the culprit this time.

Sydney Roosters 34-10

77

The Roosters strip the ball from the Dragons' attacker, but the ball bounces forward into Mitch Aubusson, and is ruled a knock on. The Dragons get another set, and manage to force a line drop out.

Sydney Roosters 34-10

77

Soward turns the ball inside to Stockwell, who milks a penalty - the Roosters penalised for holding down in the tackle. The penalty count for ruck infringments in this game is huge.

Sydney Roosters 34-10

76

Only four minutes remaining now. The Roosters are on the attack down the left of the field. They pass wide to the left looking for Jennings, but a forward pass sees the Dragons get the scrum feed.

Sydney Roosters 34-10

75

The Roosters lose the ball in a tackle, and the Dragons get another attacking opportunity 30 metres out from the Roosters' line. Soward attempts to put a chip in for Morris, but the ball sails over his head, over the sideline, and almost cleans up a cameraman. Nice.

Sydney Roosters 34-10

72

TRY ST. GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS
Scored by Matt Cooper. Conversion attempt by Jamie Soward successful.

And finally, the Dragons have a try. Cooper chases a kick through, and dives over the try line. Sowards converts, but I think the Dragons will struggle to run down the Roosters in the remaining 8 minutes...

Sydney Roosters 34-10

70

Suddenly, Morris makes a massive break, and runs almost 40 metres down field. The ball is stolen from him over the tryline, so it's a line dropout. Two Dragons players were outside Morris catching a cold. One pass and they had a certain try.

Sydney Roosters 34-4

69

A bit of back and forth at the moment, not really any solid attacking play...

Sydney Roosters 34-4

67

Maloney kicks deep into the Dragons in goal area. Vidot watches it like a hawk, with his fingers firmly crossed. He can hear Tupou crashing through behind him, but the ball trickles over the dead ball line on the last bounce.

Sydney Roosters 34-4

65

Roosters' home game record crowd here tonight - 40752.

Sydney Roosters 34-4

64

The Roosters look to have scored another try, but the pass from Maloney to Tupou is ruled to have gone forward.

Sydney Roosters 34-4

61

Trent Merrin is placed on report for driving the Roosters' player's head into the ground. Hard to see without a replay, but I don't even think he was the player involved!

Sydney Roosters 34-4

61

TRY SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Scored by Michael Jennings. Conversion attempt by James Maloney successful.

And Michael Jennings scores another try. Friend kicks in behind the line on the left of the field, and Jennings' pure speed means he is first to the ball. The Dragons simply couldn't turn and chase fast enough, and Jennings dives over. Maloney with the kick from 10 metres in from touch on the left hand side... and he puts it between the uprights.

Sydney Roosters 34-4

59

The Dragons kick high on the last - Minichiello jumps high to take it, and is knocked from underneath. There didn't look to be too much in it, but Nightingale is penalised for a mid-air tackle.

Sydney Roosters 28-4

59

The Roosters have had almost two thirds of the possession over the past few minutes - the Dragons are getting absolutely starved of the ball.

Sydney Roosters 28-4

57

The Dragons made the most ground in one tackle that they have all game. Unfortunately, it was backwards - the result of a terrible pass.

Sydney Roosters 28-4

57

Soward seems to be doing a lot of crabbing today.

Sydney Roosters 28-4

56

Aubusson tries to offload, but loses the ball from his outstretched arm.

Sydney Roosters 28-4

55

And the Dragons are penalised now for stripping the ball in the tackle. Price needs to tape his players' hands together so they can't get in the way of tackles...

Sydney Roosters 28-4

54

The dropout from Soward isn't great.

Sydney Roosters 28-4

54

Only metres out from the tryline, Maloney turns the ball back inside, but the defensive wraps up his inside runner. On the last the Roosters put a grubber in behind the line, and Nightingale helps it dead. He wasn't taking any chances.

Sydney Roosters 28-4

53

Warea-Hargreaves is back on the field, and returns the kick off. Two plays later, Mortimer runs the ball forward, and gains a penalty for his team. Yet another penalty against the Dragons for standing out of the tackle with their hands all over the ball.

Sydney Roosters 28-4

51

TRY SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Scored by Daniel Tupou. Conversion attempt by James Maloney successful.

Maloney puts a little chip kick over the top of the Dragons defensive line, and the bounce is a horror - coming directly back towards the Roosters' chasers. A couple of scrambling passes to the left of the field sees the ball reach Tupou, and from that sort of range, he is simply too difficult to stop. Maloney once again adds the two points.

Sydney Roosters 28-4

50

VIDEO REFEREE
And the Roosters pull off another miracle play. We're going to the Video Referee - the referee thinks it's a try, but just wants to be sure.

Sydney Roosters 22-4

48

Spoke too soon - the very next play the Dragons knock the ball on, and the Roosters' defense is rewarded.

Sydney Roosters 22-4

47

And it's a monster of a dropout from Maloney - covering almost 70 metres on the fly. The Dragons return the kick - the ball goes to ground, but the Dragons manage to recover.

Sydney Roosters 22-4

46

The Dragons finally look to have learnt how to attack - with some inside passes, some angles, some decoy runners - but it proves no match for the Roosters' defense. The Dragons do manage to force a line dropout though.

Sydney Roosters 22-4

45

Dragons on attack - and look like scoring in the left side of the field, but 13 desperate Roosters' defenders prevent the try. The Dragons get a penalty, and have a repeat set.

Sydney Roosters 22-4

44

Steve Price sits on the sideline and watching his team, wearing his Grandfather's medals, and safe in the knowledge that his future is wrapped up for at least the next season.

Sydney Roosters 22-4

43

A strong run from Tupou, beating three defenders before being wrestled to the ground.

Sydney Roosters 22-4

42

Roosters on attack - Pearce kicks high on the last, looking for Tupou. Tupou flies high, but can't quite reel in the ball. Dragons get the ball.

Sydney Roosters 22-4

41

Not a lot happening in this half yet. The Dragons get their first set of the second half, and it's more of the same from the Roosters - solid defense, right up in the face of the Dragons' attackers.

Sydney Roosters 22-4

40

And we're back underway in the second half here - the Dragons kick off and Martin Kennedy has the first hit up of the second half.

Sydney Roosters 22-4

40

And we go to half time at 22-4, the Roosters comfortably in front, and the Dragons appearing not to have any answers in defense. Join us shortly for the second half.

Sydney Roosters 22-4

39

The Dragons seem to have no direction in attack at the moment - five tackles and all they can come up with is a bomb into the in goal. Tupou returns the ball from the 20m tap, and is picked up and slammed into the ground.

Sydney Roosters 22-4

38

Martin Kennedy gets penalised now, and is absolutely filthy with himself. The Dragons bring the ball towards the halfway line, and will look to score a late try in this half to keep them in the game.

Sydney Roosters 22-4

36

The Roosters seem to be making ground at will here - there are line breaks and half breaks all over the park.

Sydney Roosters 22-4

33

TRY SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Scored by Martin Kennedy. Conversion attempt by James Maloney successful.

The Roosters get a penalty, and work the ball downfield. The Dragons defence looks scrambled, and in the end Kennedy crashes over a wrong-footed defender and puts the ball down right near the posts. Maloney adds the extras in an easy kick.

Sydney Roosters 22-4

33

In BREAKING NEWS, Steve Price has had his contract extended for another season, with a one year option.

Sydney Roosters 16-4

32

Merrin does a bit of a jink on the spot - but it's pointless, as he just gets tackled. The Dragons waste another set, and the Roosters get a chance to attack.

Sydney Roosters 16-4

31

The Dragons dance around with the ball for a while, and seem unable to find a clean option. In the end, Stanley puts a kick in behind the line, and the Dragons force a line dropout. Maloney kicks 50m on the fly, and Prior returns the ball strongly - and then manages an offload. Dragons just outside the 20m line.

Sydney Roosters 16-4

29

Dragons looking to keep themselves in the game with a try here - they spread the ball left, and then right, but are unable to break the line. However, Michael Jennings is penalised for being offside - not having his foot on the tryline in defence. The Dragons get another set.

Sydney Roosters 16-4

28

Dragons on attack now - they haven't spent a lot of time at the Roosters end of the field in the past 15 minutes, but they're here now. Martin Kennedy is then penalised for being all over the tackled player.

Sydney Roosters 16-4

27

And the Dragons are helped out of their half by a penalty.

Sydney Roosters 16-4

26

Some desperate defence from Matt Cooper saves a certain try. The cross field kick misses everyone, comes down to the Roosters, and is flicked out wide to the right. But Cooper wraps up the attacker and drags him to the ground.

Sydney Roosters 16-4

26

Roosters on attack from 20 metres out. Waerea-Hargreaves has a hit up - a short pass to Pearce would have seen a try, but it wasn't to be.

Sydney Roosters 16-4

25

The Roosters get another penalty, from yet another ruck infringement.

Sydney Roosters 16-4

24

A good run from Merrin, making a half-break - he had both shoulders through the line, but couldn't quite break free.

Sydney Roosters 16-4

24

The Roosters put up a towering bomb, but Nightingale is up to the task, and takes the ball with ease.

Sydney Roosters 16-4

24

The Dragons again kick off, and Waerea-Hargreaves brings the ball back. There are some amazingly fast play the balls happening here - the players don't even seem to be hitting the ground in some cases.

Sydney Roosters 16-4

23

TRY SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Scored by Anthony Minichiello. Conversion attempt by James Maloney successful.

Anthony Minichiello scores this time. Some brilliant work here. First an offload sets up a second phase play. The ball is spread wide to Sonny Bill Williams, who throws an amazing around the corner pass to Mitchell Pearce backing up. Minichiello follows it up, takes a pass, and sprints downfield to score. Maloney lines up for the kick from straight in front, and puts it straight between the posts.

Sydney Roosters 16-4

17

TRY SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Scored by Michael Jennings. Conversion attempt by James Maloney successful.

Jennings scores down the left side of the field. Maloney puts on an in and away, and the a quick offload sees Michael Jennings into space. Half a gap is enough, and he sprints down field to score. Shut the gate - no one is going to catch him. Maloney is successful this time.

Sydney Roosters 10-4

16

Off the kick-off, Waerea-Hargreaves attempts an offload, but it's messy. The referee rules that Fien has got a hand to the ball, so the Roosters get the scrum feed.

4 all

13

TRY SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Scored by Mitchell Aubusson. Conversion attempt by James Maloney unsuccessful.

Mitch Aubusson takes a short pass from Boyd Cordner, and crashes over to score. Maloney misses the kick.

4 all

13

Mitch Pearce puts a grubber in behind the Dragons' line, and Cooper takes him out after the kick. Cooper is penalised, and the Roosters get another set.