A Latrell Mitchell masterclass has seen the Sydney Roosters dominate the Wests Tigers in a 42-12 thrashing at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The first half action was one filled with plenty of twists and turns with both the Roosters having moments of dominance throughout the opening 40. They began the game on fire and they first opened the scoring in the sixth minute when Latrell Mitchell added a penalty goal from right in front of the posts.
The opening try came through some individual brilliance from Latrell Mitchell when the Roosters went down the short-side and Latrell streaked down the touchline and despite getting ankle tapped from Moses Mbye, Mitchell scored the first try in the corner with a great finish.
Wests Tigers got their scoring opened in surprisingly simple standards when Ryan Matterson went straight through the middle of the Sydney Roosters defence off a scrum and score next to the uprights and the Tigers got the score back to 6-6.
As the Tigers managed to put themselves in control, the Roosters managed to swing the momentum back in their favour as Daniel Tupou scored after getting space from close range and the conversion pushed the Roosters out to a 12-6 lead. The Roosters finished the first half with some more Latrell magic when he broke through and took a strong run where he literally threw Esan Marsters off and then found a grubber kick inside to Luke Keary to score on the stroke of halftime and the Roosters lead 18-12 at the break.
The Tigers brought the margin back to six just after the resumption of the second half when the veteran Robbie Farah dived over from dummy half right next to the posts to close the gap. That was the closest the Tigers would get to the Roosters in the second half as the Roosters began to dominate.
The first of the Roosters second half tries came for Latrell Mitchell when he was backing up Sitili Tupouniua who was unlikely catcher off a Keary bomb and the Roosters extended their lead. The Roosters then added two more in quick succession with Nat Butcher taking some tough work to get over the try line and score under the black dot.
The third try of the night for Latrell Mitchell was one of the simplest, he just stood ready and waiting to pluck a Robbie Farah pass out of the air and swing the other way and score at the Randwick end of the SCG despite the desperation of Luke Garner to try and ankle tap him. The game meandered towards a finish before Luke Keary put the cherry on top when he put a kick through that Roosters captain Boyd Cordner chased down to score. Latrell Mitchell's conversion topped of his night giving himself 26 points for the night and the Roosters won 42-12.
Next weekend, both the Roosters and Tigers head to Suncorp Stadium for Magic Round with the Roosters taking on Canberra on Sunday afternoon, whilst the Wests Tigers take on the Penrith Panthers in Friday's early game.