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Joseph Manu inspires Roosters to big win over Dragons

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

An astonishing individual performance from Joseph Manu has inspired the Sydney Roosters to a fast-finishing 54-26 win over St George Illawarra that snapped a four-game NRL losing streak while keeping their finals hopes alive.

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But the victory in Gosford looks to have come at a significant cost for the Roosters, regular first-graders Billy Smith (knee), Sitili Tupouniua (knee) and Siosiua Taukeiaho (cheekbone) going down with injuries.

Moses Suli limped off for the Dragons just before halftime and did not return.

Both sides have designs on playing September football despite going into the round sitting outside the top eight.

With Luke Keary still missing through concussion, Manu shifted to five-eighth for just the fourth time in his career and wasted little time exerting his influence on the contest.

He first barged through the middle of the park and flicked the ball away to Victor Radley, who opened the Roosters’ account against the run of play.

Five minutes later, Manu forced a drop-out with a kick to the in-goal area, and made the most of the ensuing field position by barging over from dummy-half.

In the first half, Manu’s efforts were matched by Dragons captain Ben Hunt.

Hunt brought his State of Origin heroics to the Central Coast, spinning out of the Roosters’ goal-line defence for the Dragons’ first try and then landing an inch-perfect 40/20 kick to lay the groundwork for their second.

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The Roosters’ hopes of working back into the game were dealt a blow when Smith did his knee, forcing Manu to shift between the halves and the outside backline.

The tight contest threatened to swing in the Tricolours’ favour when Dragons prop Aaron Woods was sin-binned for taking Sam Walker off the ball as he kicked from close range early in the second half.

The Dragons scored first while they were a man down but Manu’s second try from dummy half was the impetus for a five-minute surge that produced two more tries for the Roosters and ultimately sealed the win.

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The floodgates opened with the Dragons defence capitulating once the Roosters found their rhythm.

Playing back at five-eighth, Manu set the Roosters’ eighth try up with a kick for Paul Momirovski and earned a well-deserved early mark.

The Roosters were down on numbers but mid-season recruit Matthew Lodge only made it onto the field for his club debut at the 50-minute mark.

He finished with 92 metres but threw an intercept pass that gave the Dragons a chance at storming back into the contest with 15 minutes to play.

The win will be crucial for the Roosters their hopes of playing finals football.

Had they lost, the Roosters would likely have needed five wins from their last seven games to play finals.

Five of those games are against sides that started the weekend in the top eight.

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H
Hellhound 13 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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