Women's Report: Roosters Pummel Rabbitohs

After Shawden Burton was sent to the sin-bin in the fifth minute for a dangerous tackle, the Rabbitohs capitalised on their one woman advantage to send winger Paige Knapp over in the corner with a rainbow ball for the opening try.

Central Coast Lock Keilee Joseph crashed over 13 minutes later to level the scores after Burton gifted her a short inside ball from dummy half, with Jocelyn Kelleher nailing the conversion to give her team a two-point lead.

A huge run from Jocelyn Kelleher split the Rabbitohs defensive line, running 30 downfield before being struck down with a try-saving tackle. In the following play, Burton flicked a pass from dummy half to five-eighth Tarryn Aiken who streamed through the line to score in the 29th minute.

Coming into the second half firing, the Rabbitohs drew first blood through a left edge play that saw Patricia Raikadroka run straight through the Roosters defence to ground the ball on the line.

Central Coast responded three minutes later through winger Jorja Holden who received a beautiful cut-out ball from Aliyah Nasio to score in the corner.

South Sydney second-rower Ema Rainima barged her way over the line with four Rooster on her back to bring the Rabbitohs within striking range. Mollie Tagaloa converted the try, locking up the scores at 14-apiece with 13 minutes left of the game.

A brilliant play by Burton confused the Rabbitohs defence on their line, with the hooker stopping in the middle of the field before racing straight through to score. Kelleher kicked the conversion to give the Roosters a six-point lead.

Nasio secured her team’s victory in the final minute of play, bumping off one Rabbitoh and breaking the tackle of another two to ground the ball on the siren.

The Central Coast Roosters will now turn their sights to Round 8, where they’ll take on the Newcastle Knights at Cessnock Sportsground on Monday March 27 at 7:00pm.

Tarsha Gale

Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy remain undefeated in the Tarsha Gale Cup competition after crushing the South Sydney Rabbitohs 44-0 at Redfern Oval on Saturday.

The Roosters were unrelenting in enemy territory, with Eliza Lopamaua and Skyla Adams bagging doubles as the Indigenous Academy reined in eight total tries while skipper Ally Bullman and Mia Barber shared conversion kicking duties.

Fullback Lailani Montgomery got the Tricolours off to a hot start, putting on a left-foot step before crashing over in the 11th minute. Bullman added the extras to give the visitors a six-point lead.

Lopamaua scored her first try of the day just four minutes later, charging directly at the defence before planting the ball down in-goal. Bullman nailed the conversion to make the difference 12.

The captain grabbed her own piece of the pie after finishing off an impressive run by hooker Imogen Hei 10 minutes later.

Roosters halfback Skyla Adams scored back-to-back in the span of five minutes as the first-half drew to a close. She claimed the first by palming off a South Sydney defender to place the ball down on the line, bagging the second after confusing the line through fake passes to both her left and right, beating off Rabbitohs fullback Georgia Coote to score once more.

Tavarna Papalii locked in the Roosters sixth try of the day off a personal chip-and-chase play that saw the Lock ground the ball to score.

Shanice Talataina pushed through four South Sydney players to score undefended in the 46th minute, with Mia Barber taking the kicking duties to convert the try.

The Roosters claimed their eighth try of the afternoon through Lopamaua, who crossed once again after cutting the Rabbitohs defence line.

The Sydney Roosters Indigenous Academy Tarsha Gale team will face the Newcastle Knights on Saturday March 25 at 11:00am at Kurri Kurri Sports Ground in Round 8 of their season.