Roosters burn Knights with another second half blitz

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Sydney Roosters v Newcastle Knights

The Sydney Roosters for the third straight week have turned a half-time deficit into an impressive victory this week it was the Newcastle Knights who were the victims after the Roosters took a 38-24 victory at a sunny Allianz Stadium.

Conditions looked primed for plenty of points and plenty of points there was. The hosts opened the scoring after just three minutes when Siua Wong went through some poor Newcastle defence to score after some good combination work between DCE and Jame Tedesco in the middle of the field.

Newcastle hit back just five minutes later when Fletcher Hunt put his first of the afternoon on the board going through some poor defence. The tit-for-tat scoring continued as the Roosters soon hit back when Hugo Savala scored after some good work from Daniel Tupou in the air to tap the ball back to Savala.

The Knights soon found their gear as they levelled and quickly went past the Roosters on the scoreboard with Trey Mooney strolling through easily after some good work from Matt Croker. Fletcher Hunt then quickly added two more tries one chasing through a pinpoint kick and then when Francis Manulelua burst through and linked with Hunt for his third.

Trailing 24-12 at the break, the Roosters needed to channel the magic of the past fortnight and they did exactly that in the second half. The Roosters started fast as they put the Knights under pressure early and Sam Walker scored just four minutes into the second half when his kick ricocheted off Fletcher Sharpe perfectly for Walker to score.

The Roosters then quickly added three tries in the space of ten minutes when Hugo Savala scored his second, James Tedesco who set up the previous Savala try and then Mark Nawaqanitawase finally got over the line after being denied twice in the first half.

For the second time in the contest, the bunker had to step in to overturn a Roosters try that was given on-field after a Mark Nawaqanitawase was ruled to have knocked on by Chris Butler in the bunker which denied Nat Butcher his first of 2026.

The Knights were on their heels being torn apart by the Roosters but the hosts could only add one more try with some DCE magic to run into the line double pump the ball and find Mark Nawaqanitawase in the corner. Sam Walker missed his last two conversions but was still good enough for the 38-24 win.

Next week, the Roosters have their traditional ANZAC Day clash against the Dragons at Allianz Stadium on Saturday afternoon whilst the Knights task doesn't get any easier despite getting back home when they take on the Panthers.