Keary sinks spirited Dragons in see-sawing battle

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Sydney Roosters v St George Illawarra Dragons

A 76th minute field goal by Roosters halfback Luke Keary was got the Roosters back on the winners board, while the Dragons have suffered their third straight loss by 6 points or less.

The Roosters opened the scoring after just 4 minutes when Egan Butcher received a short ball from Victor Radley and then ran through a huge gap for 30 metres, drew the fullback before passing to James Tedesco who raced 30 metres to score under the posts. Joseph Suaalii converted the try.

The momentum shortly after shifted and the Dragons began to dominate field position, which they converted to points in the 14th minute when the Dragons shifted the ball left where Moses Suli got a poor pass to Tautau Moga, who not only reeled it in, but had a frightfully narrow passage to the line and yet somehow he managed to stay in the field of the play and score despite plenty of defenders around. Zac Lomax converted to level the scores.

The Dragons continue to dominate possession and field position, but an error on halfway, invited the Roosters down their end and in the 21st minute, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves produced a stunning short pass to the straight running Victor Radley, who hit a gap and scored a try near the posts. Suaalii converted and 5 minutes later, he extended the margin further with a penalty goal.

Momentum stayed with the Roosters and in the 29th minute, they crossed again when Luke Keary took on the line himself, snuck through and scored a good solo try. Suaalii converted again and the Roosters were looking like they were getting ready to take the game away from the Dragons.

The Dragons though reduced the margin in the 34th minute when a Ben Hunt bomb was contested by 4 players. None of them touched the ball, which then bounced off Paul Momirovski's back and into the waiting hands of Jack Bird, who dived over to score. Lomax converted the try. At halftime the Roosters held a 20-12 lead.

The Roosters opened scoring in the second half just 5 minutes after play resumed when they shifted the ball left, close to the Dragons line, where eventually it gets to Joseph Manu who got between the final two defenders and powered his way over for a try. Suaalii converted.

The Dragons then produced a 10 minute scoring blitz that got the scores levelled up with 20 minutes to go. In the 51st minute The ball went out to Tyrell Sloan on the right side, who somehow got outside his defender, exploded through a half-gap before getting a glorious flick pass to Moga who raced down the sideline and dived over to score in the corner. Lomax failed to convert from out wide.

From the restart the Dragons went the length of the field before shifting the ball to Suli on the right side, who raced downfield before firing a perfect ball inside to the unmarked Sloan, who stepped inside the cover defence and scored under the posts. Lomax converted.

In the 58th minute, the Dragons crossed again down the right side, when Moses bumped off a defender and then offloaded to Moga who leapt and scored miraculously in the corner, injuring his shoulder in the process. Lomax failed to convert from touch leaving the scores level at 26 apiece.

Just 5 minutes later, Victor Radley was sin binned for an alleged high shoulder that looked more like a head clash.

The Roosters started to regain momentum and in the 74th minute, Keary potted a field goal to give his side a much needed 1 point victory.