Sydney Roosters hold off gritty St George Ilawarra in pulsating Anzac Day clash
He proved a hero and then a villain for St George Illawarra, but for a magic moment electric fullback Matt Dufty brought the grand old ground alive.
He was the football hero on a day of Anzac emotion.
Prop Siosiua Taukeiaho produced a one-man rampage as his Sydney Roosters side recorded a dramatic 20-10 Anzac Day in over St George Illawarra at the SCG.
It was the Roosters' sixth successive win.
Before 38,418 fans, Taukeiaho ran for an extraordinary 256 metres and scored a solo match-winning try. He also made 22 tackles. He is an unsung hero in a team of Roosters superstars.
“I tried and set a goal and be better than last year,” Taukeiaho said.
Skipper Boyd Cordner and hooker Jake Friend was other Roosters stars but Taukeiaho was a machine. In the first 27 minutes, Taukeiaho ran for an extraordinary 138 metres.
“He is the best front rower in the game,” Mark Geyer told Triple M.
Taukeiaho’s 76th try sealed the match. He pushed past three defenders on a 30 metre dash to the tryline.
“He has some quality,” said Roosters coach Trent Robinson.
It was an electric second half, the crowd roared and screamed, as Saints gathered momentum. Yes, Bankwest Stadium is state-of-the-art but there’s something very special about the grand old SCG.
Both teams were left physical drained after 80 fascinating minutes; battered and bloodied.
“It’s a game that puts you on the edge of your seat,’ said Dragons coach Paul McGregor.
What a game. What a day.
RIPPING ROOSTERS
They are the best team in the game, no doubt. The Roosters had to dig in and scramble last week against Melbourne and again yesterday against Saints – and claimed both games.
The Roosters keep finding ways to win. They were on their knees several times in the second half but pulled back the momentum. They are more than just a glamour side.
“They are the best team in the world,” McGregor said. “I’d love to play them with 50-50 possession.”
The Roosters enjoyed 66 per cent of possession over the first half and led 14-0 at halftime before the Dragons fought back.
“I don’t think we’re cruising but we are hungry,” said Robinson. “And we’re going to stay hungry. I don’t think we have exploded out of the blocks and I don’t feel like we’ve been the form team of the competition.”
DEFIANT DRAGONS
They put up one hell of a fight against the competition favourites.
Led by Corey Norman, Tariq Sims and Matt Dufty, St George Illawarra certainly had the better of a ripping second half. They were gallant and will be there deep into September.
They could even have left gutted at fulltime, having failed to tally capitalise on a dominant second half.
“Possession wide, we had 38 per cent,” McGregor said. “But we’re motivated going forward with our second half. I asked the boys to leave it all out there in the second half and they certainly did that.”
Dragons halfback Ben Hunt was replaced with 12 minutes remaining through a corked shoulder.
DANGEROUS DUFTY
This was arguably the best individual try scored at the SCG in 36 years.
Dragons fullback Matt Dufty ran 65 metres to score a superb solo try where he ran through and past six Roosters defenders.
Yes, six. It brought the grand old ground alive.
It reminded old-timers of a famous try back in 1983 when Parramatta winger Eric Grothe went over six Canterbury defenders to score in a semi-final.
“Brilliant, absolutely brilliant,” McGrgeor said.
A loose carry by Dufty though near fulltime led to Taukeiaho’s try.
MISSING MITCHELL
Latrell, the game’s most potent weapon, ran for just two metres in the first half. The Roosters went to right side most of the first half - shifting away from Mitchell.
“Go to Latrell,” yelled Mark Geyer on Triple M.
“Give it to Latrell,” said former Test star Wendell Sailor.
Even without the ball, Mitchell kicked an early penalty goal, scored a try, converted, had a second try disallowed – all within the opening 20 minutes.
“It was the way our sets rolled,” Robinson said. “Joey Manu had a lot more touches. They often kicked to our right and we ended up on that right a lot passing to Joey. It wasn’t an indication of Latrell’s interest.”
SYDNEY ROOSTERS 20 (A Crichton L Mitchell S Taukeiaho tries L Mitchell 4 goals) bt ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA 10 (M Dufty Z Lomax tries Z Lomax goal) at Sydney Cricket Ground. Referee: Ben Cummins, Grant Atkins. Crowd: 38,414
Originally published as Sydney Roosters hold off gritty St George Ilawarra in pulsating Anzac Day clash
Updates
The VIP lunch that could deliver a new Blues captain
At a special lunch on Friday, Ricky Stuart pulled up a seat next to Nathan Cleary. What happened next could change the course of history for NSW, writes DAVID RICCIO.
The South Sydney contract call that infuriated Matt Lodge
Matt Lodge was confident that he was headed to South Sydney for a Wayne Bennett reunion, but one brief call blew up that plan and forced the NRL enforcer to make a surprising career pivot.