Roosters Survive A Storm Surge

The Sydney Roosters have scored a 24-12 win over the Melbourne Storm at Allianz Stadium in front of 13,000 fans.

Both sides came into the match with comfortable wins last week but tonight was going to be a different story with wet and windy conditions, meaning a free-flowing game was not going to be on the cards.

The first half showed how tough conditions were going to be with just one try being scored by either side in the opening 40 minutes.

The Roosters opened the scoring when Jake Friend took advantage of the Storm wingers being out of position and a well place kick put Daniel Tupou into open space to score his first of the night.

Despite having the opening try, the Roosters were forced to play the majority of the first half in defence but not before Billy Slater showed his acceleration to go through to score his first of the night.

The second half was played in worse conditions but errors from either side were ultimately gifts with several errors leading to tries.

The opening points of the second half however came from the boot of James Maloney who slotted a penalty goal from close range to give the Roosters a 2 point lead.

Although the Roosters took the lead it wasn't a lead that was going to last long, after James Maloney dropped the ball from the kick off and in the ensuing set the Storm crossed through Billy Slater to take a 12-8 lead.

That was the Storm's last scoring play of the match although they did put the pressure on the Roosters to the extreme, but as per the rest of the match the Roosters were able to fight off the pressure and they scored three tries to secure the victory.

The first of the three tries went to James Maloney who had open space to run after a poor ball from Cameron Smith at the base of the scrum gave Maloney the open space to score.

The second try came when Mitchell Pearce was able to split the defence of the Storm with a pinpoint kick with Aidan Guerra scoring the try and then the third try came on the stroke of halftime when Daniel Tupou used his finishing skills to score a try in the corner to give the Roosters a 24-12 victory.

Next weekend sees a vital match for both sides with the Sydney Roosters seemingly in the spot where they were 12 months ago with a battle for the minor premiership with the South Sydney Rabbitohs and for the Storm they have a battle against the Broncos at AAMI Park next Friday night.

SYDNEY ROOSTERS (24)
Tries: Daniel Tupou (2), James Maloney, Aidan Guerra
Field Goals:
Conversions: James Maloney (3/4)
Penalty Goals: James Maloney (1/1)

MELBOURNE STORM (12)
Tries: Billy Slater (2)
Field Goals:
Conversions: Cameron Smith (2/2)
Penalty Goals:

TEAM CHANGES: Both sides have no player changes and the 1-17 named will play, both sides have 1 positional change though:
ROOSTERS: Dylan Napa starting in jersey 16 with Sam Moa going back to the bench
STORM: Jordan McLean starts in 17 with Ryan Hinchcliffe going to the bench

Cameron Smith leads the Storm out on to Allianz Stadium to a massive chorus of boos

Play underway at Allianz Stadium - Roosters take the first possession defending the Southern (SCG) end of the ground

2: UNFORCED ERROR MELBOURNE STORM
Marika Koroibete makes an unforced error.
Marika Koroibete ruled to have lost in the play the ball by Jared Maxwell although replays suggest otherwise

3: Roosters force a repeat set after Mitchell Pearce puts a grubber in that is batted dead by the Storm defender

5: TRY SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Scored by Daniel Tupou. Kick to come.
Daniel Tupou is left unmarked out on the wing, Jake Friend goes from dummy-half and kicks catching Sisa Waqa out of position and Daniel Tupou goes through untouched to dive in and score

6: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Conversion attempt by James Maloney successful.
James Maloney hits as sweet as possible and it sails straight through the middle of the posts

9: PENALTY STORM: Opening penalty of the match goes to the Storm after the Roosters are ruled to have stripped the ball illegally

10: Ben Roberts tries to put a kick in that doesn't go through the line and the Roosters get the ball

13: James Maloney under no pressure has a good opportunity to kick a 40/20 but puts it well over the sideline on the full

17: PENALTY ROOSTERS: Jared Maxwell penalises the Storm for being too slow to leave the ruck

18: UNFORCED ERROR SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves makes an unforced error.
A good ball can't be taken by JWH who loses it into the hands of Dylan Napa but its ruled to have been a knock-on

19: PENALTY STORM: The Roosters penalised for pushing the Storm player back to the ground

20: PENALTY STORM: The Roosters penalised for being too quick leaving the 10m, pressure right on the Roosters

21: TRY MELBOURNE STORM
Scored by Billy Slater. Kick to come.
Billy Slater shows his turn of foot and gets through a gap and the Roosters defenders to score under the sticks

22: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION MELBOURNE STORM
Conversion attempt by Cameron Smith successful.
Cameron Smith has no problems converting from in front

28: UNFORCED ERROR SYDNEY ROOSTERS
James Maloney makes an unforced error.
The Roosters start to create some pressure BUT a strong tackle at the back from the Storm forces the ball loose

31: The Roosters can't make the pressure count following a penalty and the Storm work it away from their own line

34: UNFORCED ERROR SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Jake Friend makes an unforced error.
Jake Friend picks up the ball at dummy half but can't do it cleanly with Ben Roberts in the way, Referees rule a knock on though

38: A third line dropout forced by the Storm, the defence from the Roosters has been rock solid

40: UNFORCED ERROR MELBOURNE STORM
Ryan Hoffman makes an unforced error.
And the pressure is deflated like a Helium balloon a week later, Ryan Hoffman loses the ball in the tackle

40: Plenty of boos ringing around Allianz Stadium at the end of the first half but its all square at the break 6-6

40: Play underway at Allianz Stadium - Storm get the first usage of the steeden in the second half

42: PENALTY ROOSTERS: Tim Glasby penalised for having his hand in the ruck too long according to Gavin Morris

43: SUCCESSFUL PENALTY GOAL SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Penalty goal attempt by James Maloney successful.
James Maloney slots the easy penalty goal attempt

46: TRY MELBOURNE STORM
Scored by Billy Slater. Kick to come.
Billy Slater gets a double, a good combination between Cameron Smith and Billy Slater sees Slater slice through some pretty weak defence

46: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION MELBOURNE STORM
Conversion attempt by Cameron Smith successful.
Cameron Smith has no problems converting the try from next to the uprights

A great chase from the rookie of the game, Anthony Minichello stops Billy Slater in go

51: PENALTY ROOSTERS: Storm now penalised for a second effort in the tackle

63: UNFORCED ERROR MELBOURNE STORM
Cooper Cronk makes an unforced error.
Ben Roberts throws a horrible ball and it puts Cooper Cronk under all sorts of pressure and he loses it

64: TRY SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Scored by James Maloney. Kick to come.
Who said there isn't karma in Rugby League? James Maloney picks up a horrible pass from the Scrum by Cameron Smith and the Roosters go away to score under the sticks

66: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Conversion attempt by James Maloney successful.
James Maloney converts his own try from right in front

66: UNFORCED ERROR SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Daniel Tupou makes an unforced error.
Two restarts in a row the Roosters lose the ball, Daniel Tupou loses it trying to catch it

68: UNFORCED ERROR SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Aidan Guerra makes an unforced error.
Yet again in the play the ball the Roosters lose the ball, Aidan Guerra the man who loses it this time

71: UNFORCED ERROR SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Daniel Tupou makes an unforced error.
James Maloney throws a sweet ball and gives Daniel Tupou a free run but he can't take the pass and loses it

74: UNFORCED ERROR MELBOURNE STORM
Jesse Bromwich makes an unforced error.
Jesse Bromwich loses the ball trying to add to a second phase play, Roosters in good position to make the Storm pay

75: TRY SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Scored by Aidan Guerra. Kick to come.
Is that the game for the Roosters? Mitchell Pearce splits the defence with a good kick and the only men within the same postcode to the ball were Aidan Guerra and SBW & its Guerra who gets the 4 pointer

77: SUCCESSFUL CONVERSION SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Conversion attempt by James Maloney successful.
James Maloney converts from close range

77: PENALTY ROOSTERS: The Storm are penalised for pushing Daniel Tupou over the sideline after Jared Maxwell called held

78: TRY SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Scored by Daniel Tupou. Kick to come.
Daniel Tupou tiptoes the sideline and gets the ball down and has the luck of getting his foot onto the corner post to keep his foot of the ground to score

78: UNSUCCESSFUL CONVERSION SYDNEY ROOSTERS
Conversion attempt by James Maloney unsuccessful.
James Maloney pushes the conversion across the face of the goal but it doesn't matter

80: FULL TIME at Allianz Stadium - The Sydney Roosters have scored a 24-12 win over the Melbourne Storm