The wash-up: Rabbitohs 28 Roosters 36
To borrow from The Cure, on Monday the Roosters were battered and blue. By Friday, and Mark Nawaqanitawase’s third touch of a Steeden in the NRL, they were in love.
Nawaqanitawase took the opening kick-off from South Sydney just 40 days after his Olympic outing in front of 70,000 punters at Stade de France in Paris. Within seven minutes, the 11-Test ex-Wallaby shone oh so bright in the NRL spotlight, leaping over Tyrone Munro to latch onto Luke Keary’s crossfield kick, nabbing the first try of a 36-28 Roosters win that was far easier on the eye than the scoreboard suggested.
Smart money says Nawaqanitawase’s entrance will be a familiar sight in coming years for the $500,000-a-season flyer. He is 192 centimetres after all, and Roosters playmakers have had plenty of practice putting high balls on a platter for Daniel Tupou, Joseph Saualii and Dominic Young.
Smart money indeed given Nawaqanitawase’s follow-up effort had him leaping up for a probing Cody Walker dink, batting the ball up one-handed, before regathering and offloading to send James Tedesco racing up-field.
Their rugby recruit provided the highlights of an otherwise concerning and clunky Roosters first half that featured three errors inside the first 20 minutes from Spencer Leniu and just four completed sets from their first 10.
And because the Roosters haven’t had enough drama in a week when Sam Walker and Brandon Smith were ruled out for the season and Victor Radley remains a danger of joining them, Angus Crichton was put on report for a raised forearm going into contact with Tallis Duncan.
Mark Nawaqanitawase needed only seven minutes to score his first NRL try.Credit: Getty Images
The sheer weight of early possession against the Roosters played its part in early tries from Jye Gray and Walker, the latter breezing past lazy line defence by Naufahu Whyte that had Trent Robinson pulling him straight from the field.
Whenever the Roosters went left though, Keary and Tedesco had them looking likely, with the pair laying on a first-half double to winger Junior Pauga.And once the Tricolours hung onto the ball after the break, new No.7 Sandon Smith warmed to his task as well.
A last play-dart at the line and peach of a pass for Sitili Tupouniua to stroll over will do Smith’s confidence all sorts of good.
His first-half influence was limited largely to pressuring Walker into a kick out on the full, and Keary took the lion’s share of ball-playing duties as expected.
But as the contest wore on the Roosters warmed to their task, admittedly with the Rabbitohs also waning in defence as they fell to 16th on the ladder, their lowest finish since 2006.
Tedesco bagged two support-play tries from Crichton busting the Bunnies up the middle for his first, then Smith and Tupouniua combining to lay on their skipper’s second.
Junior Pauga wins the race to a James Tedesco kick to score his third try.Credit: Getty Images
Connor Watson regularly threatened the Rabbitohs’ tiring ruck defence, too, before Pauga bagged his third – coming up with yet another knee concern that eventually forced him off the field.
And on the other flank, Nawaqanitawase got through his share of donkey work that is a winger’s lot in modern rugby league, scrambling to cover South Sydney’s kicks and carrying out of his end with gusto.
The one blight on his game ironically came under the high ball, when he mistimed his jump for another Keary kick. Munro mopped up and raced 95 metres before Tom Burgess scored a farewell try in the last of his 249 games for the club and Gray bagged one for the road, too.
But despite the Rabbitohs’ late flurry, after a week that started with “Cooked Chooks” headlines and a pair of ACL ruptures, it was Friday, and the Roosters were in love.