Roosters find their groove to down tenacious Knights

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Sydney Roosters v Newcastle Knights

In a match that went largely as predicted, the Sydney Roosters have accounted for Newcastle to keep their NRLW finals hopes alive, with a 28-12 victory at the SCG.

The result leaves the Knights winless from three games and depending on results tomorrow, possibly even out of finals contention with two rounds remaining.

For the Roosters, it was a welcome reprieve from a tough opening fortnight which saw them fall to losses against both Queensland club and running the risk of not featuring in the top four come the end of Round 5.

It started brightly for the Tricolours, opening up a 10-0 lead after just 15 minutes, with Isabelle Kelly and Brydie Parker providing tries for one another.

Despite looking fairly listless in the first part of the match, Newcastle turned it around with Romy Teitzel reaching out through multiple defenders to score in the 24th minute, narrowing the margin to four.

The Roosters would take the 10-6 lead to halftime, but not before two brain explosions from Ngatokotoru Arakua saw Newcastle short one player going into the break, sin-binned for a spear tackle just one minute after being placed on report for high contact.

Just after the break, the Roosters took advantage of the extra player advantage, with Parker securing her second and shortly after Olivia Kernick pushing the score out to 18-6.

Once the squad numbers were back at parity, Newcastle clung to the contest with Annetta Nuuausala surging over and the gap was narrowed to 18-12.

Newcastle stayed right in the contest until the 61st minute when Keilee Joseph scored the Roosters fifth try, soon followed by Jess Sergis claiming one for herself four minutes from fulltime.

The win sets up the Roosters nicely with a clash against Parramatta looming at Newcastle next Sunday, while the Knights are hosting the Dragons later the same day in a match will likely confirm whether they can make the top four or not.