Dragons go down to Roosters at Jubilee

An opening set error from the Dragons gifted the Roosters an early chance and they took full advantage through Daniel Tupou who scurried over in the southeastern corner to make it 6-0.

The Roosters were whistled for a forward pass their next set with Lyhkan King-Togia forcing a drop-out off it to earn his side an opportunity in good ball.

Tyrell Sloan was able to cross for the Red V off it thanks to a phenomenal Su’A play in which the back-rower fashioned a tap-on which cut out Moses Suli and landed on the chest of his winger who dove over in the right-hand corner.

Valentine Holmes, just 72 hours on from helping Queensland to victory in the State of Origin decider, nailed the conversion from the touchline to lock things up less than 10 minutes in.

An error off the following kick-off handed the visitors another shot at the Dragons line with Tupou finding his second of the night in near-identical fashion to his first.

Sam Walker, in his first NRL appearance of the year, showed no signs of rust stepping up to knock over his second sideline conversion of the night.

The frenetic nature of the opening quarter persisted with Sione Finau finishing off a wild sequence to notch the second try of his NRL career.

The play started from the Dragons’ own side of half-way with Luciano Leilua showcasing a stupendous set of hands to pick up a wayward Su’A pass and move it on to Holmes who sped into space, drew James Tedesco, and handed it off to Finau to score and tie things at a dozen.

Finau did not have to wait long for his second of the evening with the Dragons taking advantage of a yardage penalty to march straight back onto the attack.

The 23-year-old found himself on the end of a slick, left-side shift in which Clint Gutherson sent a pinpoint cut-out the way of his winger who absorbed a Tedesco shot to ground it with his left hand.

Holmes struck his conversion attempt as straight as an arrow to remain perfect from the tee and give his side a six-point edge.

Walker was binned 26 minutes in for a cannon-ball tackle which resulted in David Klemmer coming from the field.

Despite the man advantage, the Dragons conceded a try to Robert Toia who went aerial to take in a Hugo Savala kick and score to the right of the sticks.

The contest got fiery prior to half-time with Sloan and Lindsay Collins coming together after the former defused the latter’s chip kick before a wrestle ensued.

Walker knocked over a field goal on the stroke of half-time from in front to make it 19-18 the way of the visitors.

The first points of the second half belonged to the Roosters with Billy Smith pouring through a hole untouched to cross on a fifth-tackle short side shift and extend the lead beyond a converted try.

Jacob Liddle claimed a try for the Red V just over an hour in but was ruled by video officials to have lost the ball in the grounding attempt.

The Dragons fired in a successful Captain’s Challenge soon after to win back possession 20 metres out from the Roosters line.

It was milestone man Su’A who took in a nice Kyle Flanagan pass, burst through a Walker tackle attempt, and dove over to snag a key four-pointer for the Red V.

Flanagan stepped up to add the extra two and cut the deficit back to just one with 15 minutes remaining.

With the Roosters attacking the Dragons, Liddle produced a bone-rattling tackle on Victor Radley to jolt the ball free and earn his side back possession with nine minutes left.

Radley scored for the visitors off a Tedesco pass as timed ticked away to seal a 31-24 win for the Roosters.