A mighty second half from the young Roosters sees them come away with a nice 42-28 win over the Wests Tigers on Sunday afternoon in the Holden Cup.
The Roosters looked unsettled with the football in the early stages and would soon pay for their poor handling in the opening ten minutes.
After a stray ball found winger James Tautaiolefua deep in his own end, he would run the length of the field to open the scoring for the Tigers.
The Roosters would be put under plenty of pressure as the half went on, but a couple of smart kicks and key plays from the back-line would ensure that they didn’t leak more early points.
After sustaining some pressure on their own line, the Roosters had solid reply to the opening try with a length-of-the-field effort from Bernard Lewis to bring the young Roosters to within just two points.
Not long after they would go in for their second on the right edge after Nick O’Meley got some solid service to send him over untouched.
It wouldn’t be long until the Tigers reclaimed the lead though, scoring their second of the afternoon through winger Peter Pakoti and take a two point lead.
Trent Pye made it back-to-back tries minutes later to take the Tigers out to a 8-16 lead over the young Roosters.
The Roosters were not willing to say die though, scoring right on the buzzer through Reuben Porter to bring it to within four points.
After the Tigers started their set with an error, the Roosters would quickly take advantage through Lyndon Hills on the left edge to level the scores.
It was all the Roosters at the start of the second half, scoring soon after through Jesse Marschke just wide of the uprights to snatch the lead back from the Tigers.
The roll would continue in the following set of six when five-eighth Lachlan Lam put Jackson Frei through a gaping hole between the uprights to give the Roosters a ten point lead.
Frei would go on to score his second of the afternoon ten minutes later after a barnstorming set of six from the young Roosters.
It wouldn’t take long for Victor Radley to join in on the scoring to give the Roosters a comfortable twenty point lead in the closing fifteen minutes of the match.
The Tigers landed the next blow through a big hole in front of the uprights to give themselves a glimmer of hope at the match.
With just ten minutes to go and carrying all the momentum, the Tigers would score the next blow on the back of a perfect kick to bring themselves to within eight points and a shot at an upset.
Any chance of a comeback was quickly shut down when winger Nick O’Meley went over in the corner for his second to make it a twelve point game in the closing minutes.
