Roosters retain Ron Coote Cup but not convincingly

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South Sydney Rabbitohs v Sydney Roosters

The Sydney Roosters have retained the Ron Coote Cup with an unconvincing 36-28 victory over the South Sydney Rabbitohs at Accor Stadium.

It wasn't a crisp start for either side with errors and ill-discipline taking away any momentum but for the Roosters it came after just seven minutes when new cult hero Mark Nawaqnitawase flew through the air to outjump Tyrone Munro to score the first for the Roosters.

Souths hit back soon after when Jye Gray sliced through after the Roosters defence failed to number up and Nawaqnitawase slipped letting Gray have a saloon passage. Being within just two points didn't last long for South Sydney as Jacob Gagai rushed off his wing to give Junior Pauga free passage to the corner.

Souths though were able to hit back five minutes later when Cody Walker went through the middle of some soft defence. Damien Cook's conversion put Souths level at 10-10.

The Roosters though didn't let Souths stay level for too long when Jacob Gagai again rushed up off his wing and left Junior Pauga to score his second of the night and despite the conversion missing the tricolours had a 14-10 lead.

Any hopes of Souths making an unlikely upset happen were quickly blown away as the Roosters put two quick tries on the board inside ten minutes when Sitili Tupouniua and Angus Crichton both went through very softly. A third try that was initially given on field by Grant Atkins was overturned so the Roosters could only lead 26-10.

That lead was extended twice more in quick succession when James Tedesco went through to score and then Junior Pauga scored his third of the night but injured his knee in the process. The Roosters managed one of two conversions to open up a 36-10 lead.

Souths then had a try disallowed for an obstruction but it didn't matter much because Tyrone Munro went 95m upfield again after a Roosters kick was tapped backwards but straight into the arms of Munro who despite not being fully fit went the length of the field to score.

Tom Burgess then capped off his final Souths game with a four pointer and he even converted it somewhat unconvincingly to close the gap to 14 points before Jye Gray picked up his second to close the gap to 10 and then the final 8 point margin after Dean Hawkins converted.

The win for the Roosters made sure they locked up a clash against the Panthers next week in Week 1 of the finals, whilst Souths look forward to their second Bennett eras as their season comes to an end.