NRL: Tigers see off Roosters

Gareth Ellis of the Tigers is tackled. Photo / Getty Images

Tigers 19
Roosters 12

Wests Tigers consolidated their top-eight spot on the NRL ladder with a hard fought 19-12 win over Sydney Roosters at Leichhardt Oval.

In a game played in perfect conditions despite the heavy rain that hit Sydney over the last week, both sides contributed to an entertaining encounter - with the win keeping the Tigers in seventh spot.

The second-bottom Roosters went into the game having won the last four meetings between the sides, but found themselves on the back foot in opening exchanges, with the Tigers completing their first 12 sets.

However, it took Tim Sheens' side 15 minutes to open the scoring, when Benji Marshall converted a close-range penalty, before setting up Beau Ryan with a perfectly-weighted grubber kick to stretch the hosts' advantage.

The resulting kick-off saw the Roosters penalised when Jared Waerea-Hargreaves was adjudged to be in front of kicker Braith Anasta.

However, the Tigers were unable to take advantage of their good field position as the desperate Roosters held their line with some outstanding defence.

The failure of Sheens' men to turn possession into points visibly lifted Brian Smith's side and with their first meaningful attack on the half-hour mark, Anasta did brilliantly to flick a last-ditch pass to winger Joseph Leilua who finished in the left corner.

The Roosters took the lead for the first time on the stroke of halftime when Mitchell Pearce found Aidan Guerra with a swift pass and the backrower barged his way over to score, with Todd Carney adding his second conversion of the night.

The second half followed a similar pattern, with the Tigers fully in charge of proceedings.

The home side showed signs they are returning to their brilliant best with some magnificent passing and movement that produced two quickfire tries.

Liam Fulton restored the hosts' lead eight minutes after the interval when he did well to hold onto a bullet of a pass from Robert Lui to barge over.

And from their next set, Blake Ayshford added his fifth of the season when Matt Utai found the young centre, who darted over from close range.

The Roosters, who have struggled to repeat the form that took them to the grand final last year, continued to battle hard, but let themselves down with some poor errors as they were hammered in the penalty count 9-5.

A controversial call by referee Jason Robinson late in the game to rule a Carney pass to a try-bound Anasta as forward infuriated the visitors, and their misery was compounded three minutes from time when Marshall kicked a field goal to seal a second successive win for the joint venture in front of a crowd of 10,178.

- AAP