Young Roosters fall to Raiders
NYC ROUND 24 RESULTCANBERRA RAIDERS 44(J Hawkins 3, E Lee 2, S Boyd, J Reuben, J Ahearn Tries; A Milford 6/8 Goals)
Defeated
SYDNEY ROOSTERS 20(J Forrester, U O’Sullivan, C Rona, J Forrester Tries; Chris Taripo 2/4 Goals)
At Canberra Stadium.
The Sydney Roosters NYC side have fallen 44-20 to the Canberra Raiders in an entertaining encounter on Saturday afternoon.
There were plenty of tries on show in the match, with the Roosters promising in attack for the full 80 minutes. However, the young Tricolours just couldn’t hold out the potent Raiders as they attacked down the left edge.
After and intense opening which saw some monstrous tackles from dynamic forward Dylan Napa, both the Roosters and Raiders settled into their attacking styles of football early in the match.
The game quickly turned into an end-to-end affair, with both sides making considerable ground through the middle. Joseph Forrester looked threatening in attack and displayed a beautiful combination of agility and power to put the Roosters in front with the first try of the afternoon. Chris Taripo missed the conversion ten metres in from the right touchline leaving the score at 4-0 after ten minutes.
Not to be outdone, Raiders winger Jeremy Hawkins produced a similar effort shortly after, beating multiple defenders before stretching out over the line. Big Shannon Boyd then followed up with a try for the Canberra men taking the score to 12-4 after 18 minutes.
A simple offside penalty from a line drop out then put the young Roosters under pressure, and when electric five eighth Anthony Milford put in a nice kick for Jonathon Reuben, the Raiders lead moved to 18-6.
Edrick Lee also got over for the Raiders, and while some Harlem Globetrotter like play from the Roosters late in the half looked very promising, the scoreline remained at 24-4 as the players ran to the sheds.
As the second stanza began, the Roosters came out firing knowing they needed to be first to score. The Tricolours looked good with their early possession and when Usaia O'Sullivan scored in just the 43rd minute the perfect start of the second half was complete. Taripo also nailed the difficult conversion into the wind taking the to 24-10.
However, like the first half, the Raiders didn’t take long to hit back with Edrick Lee and Jeremy Hawkins both scoring their doubles down the right edge. Anthony Milford converted one of his two attempts to increase the Raiders lead by ten with half an hour remaining.
Roosters centre Curtis Rona was next to alter the scoreboard keeping his side in the match with an excellent try. Rona burst down the left edge showing impressive speed in the process, taking the score to 34-16 after 54 minutes.
Hawkins then completed an excellent hat-trick from the Raiders left wing, showing great strength to barge over line. Milford missed his second conversion in the windy conditions leaving the score at 38-16.
The tries then dried up after an action packed second half, with both sides muscling up in defence. It seemed the score would remain at 38-16, however, when a very lucky Edrick Lee sparked a length of the field try to Jack Ahearn the Raiders were in late in the match.
In a great finish to the game, Joseph Forrester scored his double in the right corner with just seconds remaining to bring the score to 44-20, rounding out a fantastic attacking encounter.
Top PerformersBest for the Raiders were Jack Ahearn, Edrick Lee and Jeremy Hawkins, while Best for the Roosters were Dylan Napa, Chris Taripo and Kane Evans.
Injury NewsSydney Roosters: None major injuries to report.
Canberra Raiders: No major injuries to report.
Source: Roosters
Topic: Young Raiders Reclaim First Place in Toyota Cup
