The Sydney Roosters hosted the South Sydney Rabbitohs at a sold-out Allianz Stadium for the second time in as many weeks as they looked to continue their winning run into the 2022 NRL finals series.
Roosters Race Out of the Blocks
After tensions rose early between the formidable foes, it was the Men from Bondi who got off to a strong start.
Tupou Reaches Out to Score
Despite conceding the first try, a show of brilliance from Drew Hutchison helped him set up Angus Crichton who scored his second try in consecutive weeks against his former club.
After receiving the ball from the kickoff, the Roosters forwards then rolled through the South Sydney defence, making up 65 metres in the set.
The effort was iced by Sam Walker, who forced an error with a towering bomb before throwing an arching pass to Daniel Tupou to score in the corner and give Easts the lead.
Ferocious Battle Sees Big Names Collide
The most physical game of the weekend saw some of the league’s best players go head-to-head in a fiery encounter which resulted in a total of seven players being sent to the sin bin.
Meeting South Sydney prop Thomas Burgess for his first hit-up of the afternoon were none other than Matthew Lodge, Victor Radley and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, driving him back in a heavy collision.
A minute later, ‘Victor the Inflictor’ continued with the brutality as he flattened Siliva Havili in a perfect textbook tackle.
Crichton Levels Early
The collisions kept coming in the second half, with Lodge clobbering Souths hooker Damien Cook on a kick chase which forced Cook to lose the ball just metres out from his own try line, handing possession over to the Red, White and Blue.
It was the physical presence from both sides that highlighted the vigour throughout the entirety of the 80 minutes and kept the Tricolours in the match for the majority of the contest.
Easts Stay in the Fight Despite Losing Troops
Although their bench was reduced to just a single player at one stage, Trent Robinson’s Men refused to give up the fight.
Robinson & Keary | Finals Week One Press Conference
They put it a massive first half, sharing equal possession with their opponents and amassing five line breaks which helped them head into the sheds with the same number of tries as South Sydney.
At one point, James Tedesco, Angus Crichton, Daniel Tupou and Siosiua Taukeiaho were on the sidelines, with the shuffle seeing Joseph Suaalii at fullback, Paul Momirovski and Kevin Naiqama on the wings and Connor Watson thrown into the centres.
Despite eventually falling short, the Roosters fought right until the death, constantly chancing their hand and attacking Souths’ line as they threw the ball around and hit hard through the middle.
Suaalii Steps Up at Fullback
After superstar fullback James Tedesco was taken from the field only eighteen minutes into the match, 19-year-old Joseph Suaalii shifted to the back to fill Tedesco’s spot in his first-ever finals match.
He handled the challenge superbly, taking seventeen runs with the football which saw him fall just shy of totalling 200 running metres for the match.
Suaalii imposed an incredible threat on the South Sydney defence, looking dangerous as he broke the line twice and had two offloads.
No doubt the experience will hold him in good stead for the future to help his development in the custodian position.
Forwards Fight Hard in Physical Contest
The age-old rivalry was as fierce as ever as proceedings began to heat up in the middle-third of the unforgiving arena.
The Roosters forwards put in an endless amount of hard work, with five of them running for over 100 metres. This included Matthew Lodge running for 188 metres, cult hero Jared Waerea-Hargreaves making 140 and Nat Butcher tallying up 43 tackles and a try.
Nat Butcher Pounces
In their final matches in the Red, White and Blue Siosiua Taukeiaho and Sam Verrills were monumental, with the hulking front rower totalling 177 metres and the crafty hooker notching 54 tackles in sterling efforts.
This postseason marks the ninth time in ten years that the Roosters have advanced to the NRL Finals, extending their streak to six-straight postseason appearances, with plenty to build on heading into 2023.
