Newcastle Knights picked up a rare win in Sydney against the Roosters in a 20-6 success this afternoon at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
It has been a surprise start to the 2022 seaosn but this result might be the biggest of all. Newcastle Knights were impressive in their work against a Sydney Roosters side which were tipped to be challengers this season. The Knights scored four tries to the Roosters one on a bright afternoon.
Dane Gagai made a welcome return to the Knights side, and the veteran centre was involved in all the Knights best work this afternoon. He also scored the first four-pointer of the afternoon after James Tedesco made a mess of a bomb and gave the centre a stroll to the line.
Next, it was some Bradman Best magic which stretched the lead to 10-nil. The centre who had an indifferent 2021, showed off all the skills with the fend on the defender then he flicked it out to Enari Tuala who had a saloon passage to the tryline.
Roosters looked disjointed and discouraged as the errors and penalties piled up. The home side thought they had the first points when James Tedesco finished off a linebreak from Luke Keary but it was brought back for interference. From there, it became a horrow show for the tri-colours, who failed to fire a shot in the first half with a token penalty goal to Sam Walker, making it 10-2 at the break.
Maybe a half-time rev up might get the Roosters going? nope. Knights were the first side to post second half points. Jake Clifford, who joined the side mid-season last year, scooped up a loose pass from Jared Wearea-Hargreaves to scoot away to make it 16-2.
There was a small window when Phoenix Crossland was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul on Keary. The Roosters dominated possession in the period but were unable to make any inroads, due in part, to some stellar defense from Knights winger Dom Young.
The English product put the icing on the result for the Knights in the 73rd minute. Adam Clune started the move with a linebreak on the left before the Knights swung it wide right for Young to dive over in the corner for 20-2.
Roosters got some late consolation from former Panther Paul Momirovski. He cleaned up a crossfield bomb which was spilled and dived over to make the scoreline 20-6 which honestly flattered the home side.