The Sydney Roosters junior pathways recorded mixed results over the weekend, with SG Ball recording a 36-point draw with the Newcastle Knights, while both Harold Matthews teams suffered a loss.
While the Central Coast Roosters secured their second Andrew Johns Cup premiership with an impressive win over the Knights at Woy Woy Oval.
SG Ball
After an impressive 62-point victory over the Storm last week, the SG Ball team were on the road again for Round 8 of their season, this time facing the Knights at Kurri Kurri Sports Ground on Saturday.
With both teams going try-for-try, it was Cassius Tia’s conversion kicking that kept the Roosters in the game, with the young five-eighth nailing five from five while Benjamin Dufficy converted the Tricolours sixth try to ensure Newcastle would have a tough fight ahead of them as the siren approached.
The Knights got off to a flying start, scoring three unanswered tries in the opening 20 minutes before Benaiah Ioelu and Jayden Smith got the Roosters on the board just before half-time to level the scores.
The Red, White and Blue continued their raid into the opening minutes of the second half, with Dufficy crossing the stripe in the 37th minute to give the Roosters the lead.
Newcastle centre Ethan Ferguson stole the advantage from the visitors just six minutes later, scoring and converting his own try to put the Knights back in-front.
Kade Maguire, Dufficy and Delasalle Va’a all scored four-pointers late in the second half to keep the Roosters afloat, while Newcastle battled to kick conversions from across the park.
Despite the result ending in a 36-apiece draw, the Roosters remain unbeaten across the past six rounds, with one game left of the regular season.
Harold Matthews
Playing at Kurri Kurri Sports Ground on Saturday, the Sydney Roosters went down 20-6 in a hard-fought battle against the Newcastle Knights.
Zach Fittler scored the Tricolours first and only try in the opening minute of the game, with Toby Rodwell converting the four-pointer to give the visitors an early lead.
But the Knights fought back, levelling the scores through Kyran Blair 10 minutes later, before a second half double to five-eighth Blake Dorahy sealed the win.
The Central Coast Roosters also suffered an unfortunate loss over the weekend, falling to the Balmain Tigers 23-8 at Morry Breen Oval.
Balmain claimed two tries early in the contest through Michael Nassar and Ilai Esau before Sydney responded in the first minute of the second half with Bailey Vaeau crossing the stripe.
The Tigers added another four points to the board when Adrien Safi scored in the 35th minute, but Cooper Dean-Potaka reduced the deficit to single digits only 13 minutes later to bring the Central Coast back into the clash.
Marc Tannous cemented Balmain’s victory with eight minutes left of the game, with skipper Alex Conti kicking his third conversion of the day to make the final score 23-8.
Andrew Johns Cup
A man-of-the-match performance from Darcy Smith guided the Central Coast Roosters to their second Andrew Johns Cup premiership, defeating the Newcastle-Maitland Region Knights 18-10 at Woy Woy Oval on Saturday.
After claiming a double the week prior in the semi-final against the Macarthur Wests Tigers, Roosters halfback Jai Callaghan bagged the opening try in the seventh minute to secure an early lead for his team. Tayte Bayley converted the try to make the difference six.
Callaghan made his way over once again in 31st minute to make it four tries in just two weeks, with Bayley making his second conversion of the afternoon to extend the Roosters lead to 12.
The Knights fought back to claim 10 points in the space of three minutes through Matthew McEwen and Darcy Mitchell, but Darcy Smith destroyed any hope Newcastle had with a try in the 58th minute to claim the Premiership.
