Walker's sideline conversion hits the upright
Roosters swing the ball left to Tedesco who then gets a good ball to Tupou and the big winger bags his third try of the game (all in the second half)
Walker kicks for himself into the Dragons ingoal and very nearly scores. Dragons take it dead. Dragons drop out
Tedesco almost scores. defemce holds him up
Dragons drop out
Lomax from in front adds the extras
Norman on the left side, make a half break and offloads to Burns who makes a break before linking with Sullivan who scores under the posts.
Taukeiaho very nearly scores through the middle but he drops the ball across the line. The ball goes dead off the Roosters
PENALTY ROOSTERS - Norman with a short restart but it only travels 8 metres, then bounces back 4. Roosters find touch 30m from the Dragons line
Taukeiaho converts from almost in front.
Hutchison threw a dummy that everyone bought, he then set for the line and manages to across the line for a try despite 2 defenders hanging off him.
Ravalawa has come off for an HIA
Taukeiaho converts from in front
Roosters on the last move the ball from the left sideline to the middle where Walker props off his right, steps into an immense gap and walks through it to score under the sticks.
Siosiua Taukeiaho returns to the kicking duties and from the left sideline, he nails it!
Hutchison bomb to the left corner and Tupou flies through and takes the catch cleanly, then falls over the line to score a good try.
PENALTY ROOSTERS - Ravalawa trying his best Lui Kang impersonation when trying to ... catch the ball? No idea what he was doing.
PENALTY DRAGONS - JWH has Ravalawa collide with his shoulder
Walker from the left sideline, misses the extras.
Roosters with a shortside play, Walker at first receiver fakes to grubber then passes low to Tupou, who catches it as his feet, then dives and gets the ball down to score an amazing try.
PENALTY ROOSTERS - Bunker rules that it was a strip.
Siosiua Taukeiaho drops the ball. Roosters challenging, claiming it was stripped illegally.
Lomax from wide on the left side, nails the conversion and the Dragons take the lead.
Bird defuses a bomb in his own ingoal, takes a quick tap from the 20m line, he then passed to Lomax who breaks through the few retreating defenders, then links with Mathew Feagai who then just makes it to the tryline despite Sam Walker's effort to score a great length of the field try.
McGuire with a sloppy pass and the Roosters pounce on it. They now get a full set inside the Dragons 35m
Lomax from the right sideline curls around but it curls too late. No points.
Ravalawa makes a break down the right touchline after getting a great ball from Lomax and he runs 30m to score in the corner
Verrills looks to have picked up an arm/albow injury.
Dragons treating the last tackle like it was the first of the set.
Norman's grubber on the last was almost effective.
PENALTY DRAGONS - 10m from the Roosters line
Butcher finally comes off the field
Dragons defence has turned up in drovers to push Tupou into touch and into a cameraman's telegraphic lens, which was made redundant
Nat Butcher staying on the field, but he's basically on one leg.
Nat Butcher has stayed down after a tackle, looks to be a knee injury. Play now stopped.
Dragons get the second half underway
Lomax from basically in front, adds the extras.
Norman puts Dufty on a run to the line and he aaaaaalmost scores, but Tedesco holds him up, the ball is illegally stripped and Josh McGuire picks up the dregs and scores next to the posts.
Essentially, it was a successful challenge. SCRUM DRAGONS - on halfway, 83 seconds left in the half.
Refs Challenge by the Roosters - arguing the ball was stripped, not dropped
SET RESTART DRAGONS - And they drop the ball immediately. Roosters off the hook.
SET RESTART DRAGONS - 10m from the Roosters line
Dragons get a tackle reset after the Roosters touched a pass.
SET RESTART DRAGONS - 30m from the Roosters line
SCRUM DRAGONS - Roosters drop a simple pass on halfway
Tedesco lining up this sideline conversion attempt, twice. No goal.
Tedesco gets the ball on the left side, he holds it up, holds it up, holds it up, engages the defence and then passes to Sitili Tupouniua who brushes off a back-peddling defender to score.
Tedesco being allowed to do whatever he wants. Dragons let him grubber and he forces a Dragons drop out. He's already racked up over 200 run metres
SCRUM ROOSTERS - Well that passage looked like some of the slop we witnessed in the Tigers v Sharks game yesterday. Norman with a wobbly long ball, Dragons offload infield to no one, Roosters clean up and they offload to no one and the Dragons knock on while trying to clean up the ball.
Lomax bats the crossfield kick back beautifully for his team mates. Unfortunately they didn't both showing up. Tedesco did though and he ran 60 metres before De Belin brings him down.
SET RESTART DRAGONS - near halfway
Hutchison on the last, runs it, offloads forward and the Dragons clean up.
JWH just get bent over backwards while he was on his knees making a tackle. He got bent back way too far. Looked bloody horrific, but he's back up after some assessment and looks fine. Just miraculous!
Dufty with a toilet of a pass to Lomax. It was flat, too far in front of Lomax and almost into the Roosters defenders. Lomax gets credited with the handling error
Keighran will not be back today as he has failed his HIA - Thanks to League Unlimited's sideline reporter Jake Duke for that information.
Norman puts in a ugly wobbly old grubber. Tedesco shields it as it approaches the dead ball line. Sullivan chases hard and tries to force the ball for a try as Tedesco falls on the ball, but Sullivan goes into touch with his hand on the ball. 7 tackle set for the Roosters
McGuire off to have an HIA
Siosiua Taukeiaho from the right sideline, misses the conversion.
From the play after Lam's break, the Roosters go right to Tedesco at first receiver, who steps back in towards the post to beat a defender and then fires a brilliant long ball out to Copley who scores comfortably in the corner.
SET RESTART Roosters - As Lam makes a break down the right wing.
Roosters bomb is contested ..err oddly. Ravalawa stands there as Tupou very nearly has an air swing trying to tap it back. The ball bounces and goes into touch 15m from the Dragons line.
Siosiua Taukeiaho converts from right in front
JWH in the middle, offloads to Siosiua Taukeiaho who then passes inside to Tedesco at pace who breaks the line, draws Dufty and then sends Butcher away to score under the sticks.
SET RESTART ROOSTERS - 15m shy of halfway
Keighran coming off for an HIA
SCRUM ROOSTERS - Ravalawa makes a break, has Dufty unmarked inside and sends him the ball, but its a mile forward.
Tedesco breaks through the Dragons line off the back of the scrum, but Dufty with a Garry Jack-esque legs tackle, takes Tedesco into touch
SCRUM ROOSTERS - Another set in prime attacking real estate for the Roosters
SET RESTART ROOSTERS - 20m from the Dragons line
Liu gets across the line but it looks like Ellis has pulled off an incredible one-on-one strip to save a try, the Dragons take the ball dead. Dragons drop out.
Keighran gets his body across the line but not the ball.
Copley almost scores but ankle taps himself....
SCRUM ROOSTERS - Hutchison's crossfield bomb is contested by everyone in a Dragons jumper on their left side, 10m from their own line
Dufty spills his lollies, but luckily the fall behind him and doubly luckily, the ball didn't go dead in goal, triply lucky, he was able to regather and get back into the field of play.
Roosters get us underway
Dragons have won 4 of their 11 games played in August since 2018. Roosters have lost 4 of their 16 games played in August since 2018.
Referees & scorers:
Referee: Chris Sutton
Touch Judges: Liam Kennedy, Matt Noyen
Video Referee: Ashley Klein
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS (22)
Tries: Josh Mcguire, Mikaele Ravalawa, Mathew Feagai, Jayden Sullivan
Field Goals:
Two Point Field Goals:
Conversions: Zac Lomax (3/4)
Penalty Goals:
SYDNEY ROOSTERS (40)
Tries: Egan Butcher, Dale Copley, Sitili Tupouniua, Daniel Tupou (3), Sam Walker, Drew Hutchison
Field Goals:
Two Point Field Goals:
Conversions: Siosiua Taukeiaho (4/5), James Tedesco (0/1), Sam Walker (0/2)
Penalty Goals: