The Sydney Roosters have claimed their third-straight win in the Jersey Flegg Cup competition, downing the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 14-4 at Belmore Sports Ground on Saturday afternoon in a thrilling first-plays-second contest.
Unstoppable force met immovable object for the first time this year, when the Roosters who boast the competition’s best attacking record, were held to three tries against the league’s strongest defensive side.
Match: Roosters v Bulldogs
Round 14 -
home Team
Roosters
away Team
Bulldogs
Venue: Belmore Sports Ground, Sydney
After a hard-hitting opening six minutes, Easts took advantage of a penalty with Xavier Chatfield-Mooka chasing down a Tyler Colley grubber into the in-goal to claim first points.
The Tricolours found the line again after another gruelling 10-minute period, making the most of a forced dropout as Braith Alexander sent Kyron Fekitoa over with a masterful short ball.
Storming towards the stripe, the Roosters almost found a third first-half try, spreading the ball out wide after a Bulldogs error, but a cut-out pass to Chatfield-Mooka, who stood undefended, narrowly missed the mark.
After 35 minutes of fast, end-to-end football, the sides headed to the sheds with Easts maintaining a hard-fought 8-0 lead.
The Tricolours defended an intense set of six on their line early in the second stanza, coming up with multiple try-saving efforts as they scrambled to turn the Bulldogs away, and eventually were awarded a 20-metre restart after Chatfield-Mooka leapt from the in-goal to field an attacking kick.
The Bulldogs managed to find their first points of the game with 12 minutes remaining after a chip kick to the corner was batted back by Jonathan Sua, finding the hands of Jordan Samrani, who crashed over to halve the Roosters’ lead.
Following plenty of late twists and turns, including a disallowed Bulldogs try, the Roosters sealed the game after Alexander scooped up a loose ball and ran 30 metres to score. Colley converted the try as the siren sounded, securing a 14-4 victory for the visitors.
The Roosters will look to extend their unbeaten run to four when they host the Penrith Panthers at Wentworth Park next Sunday afternoon.
Sydney Roosters 14 (Xavier Chatfield-Mooka, Kyron Fekitoa, Braith Alexander tries, Tyler Colley goal) def Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 4 (Jordan Samrani try)
