THE Roosters extinguished whatever faint finals hopes St George Illawarra had with an emphatic 42-6 win at Allianz Stadium on Sunday, reducing the Dragons’ big win over Cronulla last week to a mere blip on the radar.
Coming off their best performance of the season, the Dragons looked sluggish from the get-go to trail 14-6 at the break before being blown off the paddock in the second stanza.
Daniel Tupou had a double either side of a Blake Ferguson four-pointer as the Roosters scored three tries in three consecutive sets midway through the second half to put the match to bed with 25 minutes to play.
In a clash between 11th and 15th the Roosters looked every bit the side that claimed three straight minor premierships before hitting the wobbles this season while the Dragons’ much maligned attack looked pedestrian and un-threatening for most of the clash.
The Titans’ victory over Newcastle on Saturday leaves the Dragons five points out of the eight with two games to play and resigned to missing the finals for the fourth time in five seasons.
The Roosters built a mountain of pressure early on largely off the boot of Mitchell Pearce who forced a line drop-out and laid on Mitch Aubusson’s 13th minute four-pointer with deft grubbers. Sio Siua Taukeiaho converted from close to the sideline for a 6-0 lead and did the same when Ryan Matterson 13 minutes before the break.
Taukeiaho added the extras and penalty goal from the next set to give his side a handy 14-0 buffer before Widdop got his side back in the match four minutes before the break, out-leapeing Blake Ferguson to pull down a Marshall high ball to and cut the margin to eight at halftime.
Tupou crossed 10 minutes after the resumption with before Ferguson scoring from the very next set. Ferguson broke the Dragons open again from the ensuing set with Pearce toeing a kick through for Tupou’s second and a 30-6 lead.
Aiden Guerra won the race to a Jake Friend grubber to extend the margin to 30 before Ferguson’s second try five minutes from time rounded out the scoring.
