Roosters rise to the occasion on ANZAC Day

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Sydney Roosters v St George Illawarra Dragons

A breakout performance from Sam Walker has seen the Sydney Roosters humble the St George Illawarra Dragons 34-10 on ANZAC Day.

Scoring a try, kicking five goals and showing plenty of class with the ball in hand, the 18-year-old halfback defied his inexperience to give the Roosters back-to-back ANZAC Day wins for the first time since 2014.

Despite conceding the first and last tries of the match, the home side - playing in a strip worn by the club during wartime - proved far too strong to post six tries to two in a fixture played before 37,620 supporters at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Denied first points by the bunker after Jack Bird was ruled to have knocked-on in the contest, the Dragons opened the scoring through a powerhouse charge from Tariq Sims (10th minute) close to the try line.

Taking advantage of good field position after Mikaele Ravalawa was placed on report for a shoulder charge on Josh Morris, the Roosters' centre showed no signs of ill effect to put Daniel Tupou (14th minute) over in the corner.

With both sides exchanging sets for much of the first half, the Roosters were able to capitalise on Dragons winger Jordan Pereira being sent to the sin bin for a high shot on James Tedesco.

Wasting little time playing against 12 men, Sitili Tupouniua (34th minute) broke through the Dragons' defence before  Walker demonstrated confidence belying his age to send Nat Butcher (39th minute) over on the stroke of halftime.

With Tedesco failing to complete his HIA, Matt Ikuvalu, the second 18th man to be used in the NRL, came into the contest following the resumption of play. 

Despite losing Ben Marschke to the sin bin early in the second half, the Roosters continued their dominance with Walker (48th minute) taking on the line and Lindsay Collins (55th minute) charging into a gap created by Sam Verrills in his first match back in the NRL.

Shattering the Dragons' spirits after Joey Manu (66th minute) broke through feeble defence, a late consolation effort from Mikaele Ravalawa (73rd minute) saw the Roosters run out 34-10 victors.

Next week, the Roosters travel to McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday evening to take on the Knights, while the Dragons return to WIN Stadium to host the Tigers on Sunday afternoon.