Match Report | Round 8 v Dragons

72 min: Chalk up No.189 for the career for Daniel Tupou as he finishes off slick inside work from Victor Radley, Sam Walker, James Tedesco and Hugo Savala. Roosters 64-12

68 min: Daniel Atkinson goes to the air, Setu Tu climbs high above Daniel Tupou to bring it down and slips an offload to Moses Suli who scores. Val Holmes converts. Roosters 58-16

63 min: A poor pass by Tyrell Sloan is spilled by Val Holmes and the Roosters make the most of the gift to go the distance and score a 10th try with Hugo Savala throwing the final pass for Daniel Tupou to grab the 188th try of his career. Sam Walker converts. Roosters 58-10

59 min: Kade Reed looks to create on the left for the Dragons but the ball is spilled and James Tedesco swoops and races 80 metres to score. Sam Walker lands his eighth conversion of the day. Roosters 52-10

56 min: Tyrell Sloan sends a long ball to Setu Tu who beats Hugo Savala before sending it back inside to Sloan in support and the fullback scores. Val Holmes adds the extras. Roosters 46-10

54 min: Sam Walker nudges a perfectly weighted grubber into the in-goal and Angus Crichton follows through to score the eighth try for the Roosters. Walker converts. Roosters 46-4

48 min: Connor Watson loses the ball in a tackle but no call comes from the officials and Reece Robson goes into dummy half and scurries over from 10 metres out. Sam Walker converts. Roosters 40-4

46 min: Val Holmes catches a kick and is trapped in goal. Tyrell Sloan goes short with the dropout and it travels only five metres. Roosters go on the attack.

45 min: Ryan Couchman comes up with a dropped ball to make it eight errors for the day for the Red V.

42 min: James Tedesco toys with the Dragons defence and sends Rob Toia through a big hole to score but the try is ruled out due to an obstruction by Siua Wong.

41 min: The Dragons are under the pump immediately after Daniel Atkinson throws a forward pass to Loko Pasifiki Tonga.

Marky makes his mark: Roosters flyer Mark Nawaqanitawase bagged yet another double and ran for 133 metres as he tormented the Dragons' left edge defence. 'Marky Mark' is going better than a try a game with the Roosters with 32 tries in 31 matches.

Captain's knock: James Tedesco continues to dominate with 102 run metres, two line breaks, two try assists and four tackle breaks. The Roosters' No.1 gun has been in sensational form and has a NSW Origin jersey well in his sights.

Half-time: The Dragons play half of the opening term with 12 men after Luciano Leilua (16th min) and Daniel Atkinson (30th min) are sin binned and the Roosters punish them. The Roosters completed 22 of 24 sets and racked up 988 run metres to the Dragons' 548 metres.

38 min: Mark Nawaqanitawase has a double after Rob Toia gets a flick pass away that rolls around on the ground and is scooped up by the winger who gets rid of Kade Reed to dive over. Sam Walker converts. Roosters 34-4

36 min: Hamish Stewart leaves the field for a HIA.

33 min: Another Daly Cherry-Evans kick and another try for the Roosters as Rob Toia outleaps Mat Feagai to come down with the ball and plunge over the line. Sam Walker converts. Roosters 28-4

30 min: The Roosters go left and create space for Daniel Tupou but the winger spills it.

30 min: The Dragons go down a man again after Daniel Atkinson is sin binned for a professional foul.

29 min: Kade Reed grubbers and the ball rebounds back to him before he passes to Moses Suli who tries to put Setu Tu away again but the pass is ruled forward. 

25 min: Great strength from Setu Tu to score in the corner after good lead-up from Daniel Atkinson and Moses Suli, who comes up with a brilliant tip-on for his winger. Tu had to evade Hugo Savala and then pull through a Daly Cherry-Evans tackle to stretch out and score. Val Holmes pushes the conversion left. Roosters 22-4

22 min: Siua Wong's flick pass is too high for Rob Toia who puts the ball down. That's the Roosters' first error after starting the game 14 of 14.

19 min: Reece Robson skips out of dummy half and puts James Tedesco into space before the fullback again finds Sam Walker in support for a fourth try for the Roosters. The halfback converts his own try. Roosters 22-0

17 min: The Dragons are made to pay immediately as Daly Cherry-Evans sends a superb long ball to Mark Nawaqanitawase who slides over in the corner. Sam Walker fails to convert from wide out. Roosters 16-0

16 min: Luciano Leilua is penalised and sent to the sin bin after making high contact on Sam Walker after the Roosters playmaker had kicked the ball.

12 min: Mat Feagai makes a mess of a Daly Cherry-Evans bomb and the ball spills to Rob Toia who sends it on to Siua Wong who crosses for the Roosters' second. Sam Walker converts. Roosters 12-0

9 min: James Tedesco brushes off Luciano Leilua and explodes into the back field before picking up Sam Walker who races away for the opening try. The conversion from Walker is good. Roosters 6-0

8 min: Tyrell Sloan fails to control a catch off a Sam Walker bomb but Luciano Leilua is on hand to tidy up.

4 min: The Dragons look to have struck first after Josh Kerr catches a high ball and offloads for Damien Cook to scoop the ball up and send it on to who Kade Reed who throws a long ball for Mat Feagai to cross but replays show Tyrell Sloan had knocked the ball on in the contest before Kerr came down with it.

3 min: Daly Cherry-Evans launches a high ball for the corner, Mark Nawaqanitawase soars high but can't control the catch and the Dragons come away.

Kick-off: After an emotional pre-game ceremony it's the Dragons who kick off and Naufahu Whyte brings it back on the first carry.

Late Mail

Dragons: One late switch for the Red V with Josh Kerr coming into the run-on side and Hamish Stewart reverting to the interchange. Interim coach Dean Young revealed during the week that Kyle Flanagan will act as hooker Damien Cook's back-up off the bench. Moses Suli is on track to line up in the centres after recovering from an eye socket injury. Emerging playmaker Kade Reed will make his NRL debut at halfback having impressed in the Pre-Season Challenge and the opening weeks of the NSW Cup season. 

Roosters: No late changes for the Roosters with Egan Butcher the last man tp drop out of the squad 90 minutes before kick-off. Billy Smith has again fallen short in his bid to return from a knee injury and dropped out of the squad on Friday. Tommy Talau comes onto the six-man bench in jersey No.22. 

Numbers Game

• The Roosters have won five of their last six Anzac Day clashes against the Dragons.
• The Dragons have won only two of their last 15 games against the Roosters.
• Roosters second-rower Angus Crichton will make his 150th NRL appearance.
• The Dragons have conceded 175 points in four games at the new Allianz Stadium.

 

Warriors v Dolphins at Hnry Stadium, Wellington

Late Mail

Warriors: No changes on game day after Eddie Ieremia-Toeava came on to the six-man interchange on Friday in place of Marata Niukore, while Adam Pompey also dropped out of the squad. Fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad is set to miss Saturday's match after suffering a neck injury, with Taine Tuaupiki returning to the starting side. 

Dolphins: A change 90 minutes before kick-off with Trai Fuller starting at five-eighth in jersey No.17 and Brad Schneider dropping out. Tom Gilbert will play lock in jersey No.8 in place of Morgan Knowles, who dropped out on Friday with a calf injury. Tom Flegler lines up at prop. Brian Pouniu and John Fineanganofo are part of the six-man bench. 

Numbers Game

• The Warriors have won four of their last five games in Wellington.
• Dolphins winger Jamayne Isaako has scored six tries in five games in New Zealand.
• Warriors winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak has scored six tries in his last three games.
• Dolphins centre Herbie Farnworth has scored seven tries in his last five games against the Warriors.
• Warriors five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita will play his 100th NRL game.

Storm v Rabbitohs at AAMI Park