Roosters dominate undermanned Knights

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Sydney Roosters v Newcastle Knights

The Sydney Roosters have reminded everyone of their strength as they scored a 42-12 victory over an undermanned Knights side at the SCG.

The opening forty minutes was dominated for the most part by the Roosters who ran in five tries during the opening 40 despite a five-minute lapse where Newcastle hit back with two tries.

Sydney opened the scoring in just the second minute when they took advantage of a weak Newcastle left defence as they elected to go down the short-side and got through for Josh Morris to score.

The Knights' defence would've been a concern for coach Adam O'Brien as the Roosters continued to make easy metres and the second try for the home side was almost a replica of the first try when Jake Friend went down the short side before the ball ended up with Daniel Tupou to score. The only enemy that the home side had through the opening minutes was the clock as they added a third converted try within 15 minutes.

Their third try came again through their left-hand attack as Luke Keary charged through off an inside pass from James Tedesco who had to do some work to take the poor pass that was delivered to him. The Roosters continued their battle with the clock as the Knights defence was caught out through the middle this time when Jake Friend turned the ball back inside for Joey Manu to score.

Soon after, they lost captain Boyd Cordner after he failed a HIA test after slamming his head into the ground in trying to score a try which was knocked back by the NRL Bunker.

Newcastle's fighting spirit was on show when they added two tries in a five-minute period with Enari Tuala crossing in the corner after Edrick Lee was able to tap the ball backwards and Tuala charged for the corner. The Knights added their second try soon after when Gehamat Shibasaki was gifted a try after nobody was able to get a touch on a kick and Shibasaki pounced on the ball.

The Roosters extended their margin back out to three converted tries when the Roosters put on the magic as James Tedesco scored following some good hands before a clever kick back to the middle from Kyle Flanagan saw Teddy ground the ball.

The second half was almost a replica of the Panthers' efforts from last night, with the Roosters having chance after chance through the half only to blow the play repeatedly. The Roosters did score within two minutes as they used the quick passing game to success as Daniel Tupou crossed for his second of the night.

The Roosters continued to dominate all over the park but couldn't turn their dominance into points despite being controversially denied a try to Lindsay Collins with Nat Butcher penalised for an obstruction despite being the man who played the ball and not moving off the mark.

They reigning premiers eventually did cross very late on in the game when the 1, 6 & 9 all combined for the Roosters after Jake Friend ran from dummy half before finding Tedesco who went forward before finding Luke Keary who scored the final try.

Next weekend, the Tricolours take on Cronulla - again at the SCG - whilst the Knights host the Dragons next Sunday at McDonald Jones Stadium on 'Old Boys Day'.