Roosters rebound with victory over Bulldogs
A FABULOUS return from injury from Luke Keary and a five- star performance from James Tedesco has sparked the Sydney Roosters’ season to life.
While all the talk in the build- up to last night’s game against Canterbury was about the battle of the big man, it was the combination of two flying lightweight Roosters Keary and Tedesco that lifted the Roosters to a 30- 12 victory.
Keary and Tedesco played a hand in all three first- half tries and both played a huge role in their team’s two second- half tries.
With the Roosters now set to take on Mitchell Pearce’s Newcas- tle Knights next Sunday, Tedesco also set up Cooper Cronk’s first touch down in his new colours.
A beautiful ball from Keary put Ryan Matterson over in the final try in the dying minutes to put the game to bed.
Keary’s return from a broken jaw had a big impact while Tedesco recovered from his first- up flop.
While Dean Pay’s men remain winless after two rounds, to their credit they gave their fans some hope after fighting back into the match after an ordinary first half.
In a match that had several significant turning points, a controversial first- half no try decision that went against the Bulldogs when the Roosters had Isaac Liu in the sin bin proved crucial after the bunker overruled an on- field call because of an obstruction.
The Roosters loss was soured somewhat with winger Daniel Tupou suffering a pectoral injury that will probably keep him sidelined for an extended period.
But the big story of the night was more about the Roosters attack on the back of last week’s shock loss to Wests Tigers and in that respect it was Keary and Tedesco who owned the night.
Latrell Mitchell was also far more involved than last week while Blake Ferguson had another big game.
Tedesco and Keary combined brilliantly for the first try that went the length of the field in the 12th minute after Mitchell tapped back a Kieran Foran cross- field kick.
Tedesco was also involved heavily in Ferguson’s try that followed in the 17th minute when the fullback spotted Brett Morris at dummy half and took his chances down the short side.
Tedesco also scored the third try after another play set up by Keary.
The Roosters lost Liu to the sin bin midway through the first half after repeated infringements.
The Bulldogs were outclassed but didn’t give up. While Cronk’s try looked to have put the game out of Canterbury’s reach, a try to Josh Jackson reduced the margin to 24- 12 heading into the final quarter.