Roosters Outmuscle Tigers

The Sydney Roosters further proved what a fantastic outfit they are tonight by defeating the Wests Tigers 22-0 on a beautiful night for Football at Aussie Stadium.

It was the Roosters all the way despite Tigers having the better of the early exchanges they just couldn't break through the Roosters defence and at halftime the Roosters went to the sheds leading 8-0.

In the second half the Tigers never looked like coming back as Brett Finch, Adrian Morley and Brad Fittler all had good games. In another boost for the Roosters Craig Fitzgibbon and Craig Wing made solid returns from injury depite the fact Wing was taken off the field in the 56th minute and was seen limping just 5 minutes earlier.

For the Tigers, if they are to be a threat in this year's competiton they will need to tighten up their defence in the middle of the ruck and work on cutting out the silly unforced errors that plagued their performance tonight.

ROOSTERS 22 Tries: Lester, Fittler, Finch, Minichello Goals: Fitzgibbon 2/4, Fittler 1/1 defeated WESTS TIGERS 0 Tries: Goals:

Aussie Stadium Referee: Jason Robinson Video Referee: Graeme West. Touch Judges: Steve Carrall, Paul Holland

By the clock: Good news for the Roosters as Craig Fitzgibbon is a late inclusion to the Roosters bench as Ned Catic is brought into the starting line up to replace Peter Cusack in the front row and for the Tigers Todd Payten has pulled out and is replaced by Chris Patterson on the bench.

0 min: Kick Off

9 min: Ned Catic is receiving attention off the Roosters trainer for concussion after bumping his head into a team mate.

10 min: News: Despite being inside the Roosters 20 metre zone for an extended period of time they can't break through the Roosters defence.

14 min: News: Tigers fullback Brett Hodgson is down on the ground receiving attention after being on the wrong end of a high shot from Roosters centre Ryan Cross.

18 min: News: Ryan Cross does a magnificent job in chasing down Tigers centre Shane Elford after Elford goes on a 70 metre run after intercepting a pass from Roosters captain Brad Fittler who is playing his 200th game for the Roosters.

21 min: News: Craig Fitzgibbon makes his way onto the field.

23 min: Try-Roosters: Roosters winger Gavin Lester scores in the corner after centre Justin Hodges runs onto a loose ball and throws a pass inside to Lester. Craig Fitzgibbon hits the posts with the conversion attempt. Roosters 4-0

34 min: Try-Roosters: Roosters 5/8th Brad Fittler busts over to score in the corner from close range. Craig Fitzgibbons hits the posts again with the conversion attempt. Roosters 8-0.

Half Time Report: Despite the closeness of the score the Roosters look like running away with this game unless the Tigers can tighten up their defence in the middle of the ruck and cut out the unforced errors.

47 min: Try-Roosters: Halfback Brett Finch busts through the Tigers defence to score a well deserved try from close range. Craig Fitzgibbon is successful with the conversion. Roosters 14-0

51 min: News: Craig Wing is on the wing limping in his first game back from an ankle injury.

56 min: News: Bryce Gibbs is placed on report for a high tackle on Roosters hooker Craig Wing. Craig Wing is taken off the field to rest his ankle.

57 min: Goal-Roosters: Craig Fitzgibbon is successful with an attempt at penalty goal from right in front. Roosters 16-0.

63 min: Try-Roosters: Roosters fullback Anthony Minichello scores under the posts after running onto a great offload from captain Brad Fittler. Fittler is successful with the conversion. Roosters 22-0

Fulltime Report: In a dour and uneventful contest the Roosters tonight have proved what a great defensive team they are with promising performances by a number of their players. For the Tigers it is back to the drawing board for next week as there are a couple of areas of their game that they will have to work on, namely tightening up their defence in the middle of the ruck and cutting down on unforced errors. ----------------------------------------- Leagueunlimited.com players of the match: 3 - B Finch(Roosters) 2 - A Morley (Roosters) 1 - B Fittler (Roosters) -----------------------------------------