The young pups have been run down this afternoon at Allianz Stadium by the Roosters, with the tri-colours winning 30-26.
The young pups ran out to an early 16-nil lead but it equated to nothing at the end of 80 minutes.
Centre Reubenn Rennie was ruled out with Jayden Okunbor coming into the side on the wing.
Some early penalties gave each side some early possession and it wasn’t until the ninth minute that Okunbor opened the scoring in the north-east corner. It was a play that we are so used to seeing these days with an out the back play and the overlap appeared with the winger striding over to score. Brad Keighran again had the kicking duties and converted brilliantly from the sideline to put the visitors in front 6-nil.
Just three minutes later the lead was extended with Okunbor heavily involved. A cross-kick put in behind by Guy Hamilton and the winger managed to win the race to the ball before getting it back on the inside to centre Michael Morgan. Morgan then only had the fullback to beat and managed to do so, getting the ball down for a four pointer. Keighran couldn’t convert on this occasion, with the score staying at 10-nil.
A lifting tackle was put on report soon after and with an on field altercation following, it was Roosters Jack Hetherington who was sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes.
The young pups were looking to take full advantage of having the extra man and did so in the 19th minute. Prop forward Jake Kamire took the ball to the line and threw a speculator out the back. It hit the chest of Brandon Luamanu who crossed under the posts. Keighran converted to put the lead out to 16-nil.
The Roosters opened their account in the 28th minute through centre Joseph Manu. It was some poor defence that saw the centre go through to score. Paul Momirovski couldn’t convert with the score staying at 16-4.
Minutes later the try was cancelled out when Morgan crossed for his second of the night. It was some sloppy play but the loose ball was picked up and sent out to Morgan who scored untouched. It wasn’t converted with the score 20-8 at the half-time break.
The start to the second half was all the Roosters with two tries in the opening 10 minutes, closing the gap. Wingers Charlie Taylor and Johnny Tuivasa-Sheck both crossed and with one of the tries converted, the scoreboard read 20-18.
A third try shortly followed with Taylor going over for his second of the night. Again it was great positioning on the approach to the line and he just snuck into the corner. The try was converted from the sideline with the Roosters taking the lead for the first time in the match, 24-20.
The lead was short lived with Reimis Smith crashing over in the right hand corner in the 65th minute and with the Keighran conversion, it was 26-24.
The hearts of the young pups were broken with just four minutes left on the clock after the much talked about Latrell Mitchell broke down the right hand side and brushed away two defenders, running the 60m to score under the posts. He converted his own try to seal the win, 30-26.
ROOSTERS 30 (Manu 2, Taylor 2, Tuivasa-Sheck, Mitchell Tries; Momirovski 2, Mitchell 1 Goals)
Def.
BULLDOGS 26 (Morgan 2, Okunbor, Luamanu, Smith Tries; Keighran 3 Goals)
