Roosters too hot at the SCG
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An SCG home final looms for the Roosters after yet another cricket score was rattled up on the hapless Warriors to keep the premiers in outright second on the NRL ladder.
An injury-rocked Warriors outfit played above their weight for 40 minutes – Roger Tuivasa-Sheck in particular growing an extra leg against his old side – but there was no stopping a seventh straight, 42-6 win for the Tricolours on their reclaimed home patch.
The Roosters are the first to admit the SCG doesn't suit the 13-man game as far as spectator sight lines go.
But with a formidable winning run that has seen them average 40 points in their last seven outings on the famed turf, their temporary home ground looms as a secret weapon on the eve of the finals.
A second-place finish would see the Roosters potentially host two finals at the grand old girl while the rubble next door at Allianz Stadium waits to be turned back into a stadium.
Match: Roosters v Warriors
Round 22 -
home Team
Roosters
2nd Position
away Team
Warriors
12th Position
Venue: Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney
For the Warriors there will be no finals in 2019, their 26-point second-half wilt against the premiers leaving them as only the slightest mathematical chances for the top eight with three rounds remaining.
Gerard Beale's season is also over, the veteran centre hospitalised with an eye-watering dislocated knee cap that will likely sideline him for the start of 2020.
His exit while pulling on the green whistle prompted a defensive reshuffle the Roosters ruthlessly exploited after Tuivasa-Sheck had nabbed the opening try.
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves was the unlikely spark for the Tricolours first, beating a couple of defenders and offloading for Latrell Mitchell to eventually exploit an overlap out wide.
Tevaga sent to the sin bin for late tackle on Cronk
A couple of desperate Tuivasa-Sheck defensive plays kept the visitors in it, the former Rooster twice denying near certain tries as the last line of defence.
While Joey Manu was able to burrow over from dummy-half and take a 10-6 lead, the Roosters' offensive muscle overwhelmed the Warriors after halftime.
Luke Keary started the second-half blitz, dummying, weaving and finally supporting in a 50-metre raid with Mitchell that finished with the star five-eighth dotting down.
Tedesco then did it in double time with a simple 30-metre sprint straight through the Warriors ruck, before a Cooper Cronk falcon in pursuit of a bomb had Brett Morris over out wide two minutes later.
Cronk ended up worse for wear and Jazz Tevaga found himself marched to the sin bin for a late shoulder charge on the champion No.7, Tevaga crunching Cronk directly on the left shoulder that gave rugby league one of great grand final storylines last year.
But the Roosters narrative simply rolled on as Cronk regained his composure, Mitchell Aubusson beating three and carrying Blake Green across the line to make it 32-6.
Another for Mitchell down the left edge took him to outright leading try scorer with 17 for the season, while his individual tally at the SCG was swollen to a phenomenal 120 points from his last six games there.
A try for Daniel Tupou on the bell wrapped up the most ominous of warnings for the Roosters' rivals, be it from the Randwick or Paddington end.
