Tigers 17
Roosters 10
Eels 40
Knights 8
Wests Tigers secured their fifth straight win and moved into the NRL top eight with victory over the Sydney Roosters at the Sydney Football Stadium yesterday.
A second-half double to winger Beau Ryan and a heavy penalty count in their favour ensured the Tigers kept their 2009 fightback on track
in front of 16,427 fans.
It wasn't a vintage performance by the Tigers, with the Roosters dominating the first half but only taking an 8-4 lead into the break.
However they showed more direction in the second 40 minutes to overpower a gallant Roosters side.
Ryan's first try came in the 55th minute, while Roosters centre Mitchell Aubusson was in the sin bin, and Benji Marshall's sideline conversion gave the Tigers the lead for the first time.
Roosters five-eighth Anthony Minichiello should have reclaimed the lead three minutes later but a brilliant trysaving tackle by Tim Moltzen denied the home side.
The Roosters pulled level with a rare penalty in the 60th minute, but the Tigers lifted another gear for the final quarter of the game.
Marshall set up Ryan's second try in the 66th minute off an attacking scrum before Robbie Farah sealed the result with a 75th-minute field goal from 15m out. The Roosters led 8-4 at halftime thanks to tries by Setaimata Sa and Shaun Kenny-Dowall.
The Tigers had the early ball but it was Roosters centre Sa who crossed after just six minutes when fill-in pivot Minichiello executed a brilliant catch-pass with his first touch in the unfamiliar playmaker role.
Kenny-Dowall extended the lead 12 minutes later following a midfield break by skipper Craig Fitzgibbon.
The Tigers were going nowhere in attack until tryscoring winger Taniela Tuiaki sparked a four-pointer from nothing, kicking and regathering to score in the 31st minute.
Wests did suffer an early setback with fullback Shannon Gallant sustaining a calf strain in the first half.
Meanwhile, Newcastle's 2009 freefall reached terminal velocity at Parramatta Stadium yesterday as the Knights crashed out of the top eight with a big loss to an Eels side whose bubble refuses to burst.
Parramatta made it four wins in a row to close within one point of eighth-placed Manly. The Eels' stunning run was in stark contrast to a Newcastle side which has looked a shadow of its former self since coach Brian Smith announced he would be leaving the club at the end of the season.
The Knights have lost three straight to drop to ninth ahead of home games against high-flyers Melbourne and North Queensland.
Newcastle started well enough with Steve Simpson steaming on to a sweet Jarrod Mullen pass for an early 6-0 lead, but when Krisnan Inu hit back after a Daniel Mortimer kick clean-bowled Kurt Gidley, there was a feeling this would not be the visitors' day.
The Knights cautiously opted to kick at goal for an 8-6 lead, but Parramatta were after more with Luke Burt denied a four-pointer when he was ruled to have pushed Shannon McDonnell in attempting to score. Burt kicked ahead and regathered himself to score near the posts; Joel Reddy did likewise seven minutes later to hand the home side a 20-8 halftime lead.
Newcastle had to be the first to score after the break and should have been, with McDonnell inexplicably dropping the ball five metres out from a wide open Eels tryline.
The Knights probed for an opening, Eels hooker Kevin Kingston taking the more direct route as he made a bust up the middle. That prompted Jarryd Hayne to inject himself into the game. The in-form fullback set up Eric Grothe for a match-clinching 58th-minute four-pointer before bamboozling the Knights defence to do the same for Fuifui Moimoi.
Burt completed the rout for a personal tally of 24 points, when he crossed out wide on the back of some great lead-up work from Inu.AAP