The Roosters' Sam Perrett can't evade the Cowboys defence last night. Photo / Getty Images
Roosters 64 Cowboys 30
Upsets have been the theme of this weekend's 13th round and the Roosters maintained matters with their massive score over the Cowboys.
Three matches have been played so far, resulting in the Rabbitohs, Raiders and Roosters upsetting the NRL formbook. Both sides lost three players to Origin duty.
In round two, the Cowboys handed out a 43-6 drubbing at Dairy Farmers Stadium. However, they couldn't produce a similar smash-and-grab at Aussie Stadium, despite taking an early lead. Matt Bartlett - signed during the week from the Storm - was the man to open the scoring and his own NRL try account by bursting through weak tackles in the 11th minute.
Craig Wing made up for that indiscretion three minutes later, sneaking in to ground the ball after Matt Bowen tried to shield a Mitchell Pearce grubber over the dead ball line. Impressive footwork from Setaimata Sa led to an Amos Roberts try soon after.
Speaking of atoning for earlier mistakes, Bowen did that and then some in response to his earlier in-goal area blooper. Fielding a fifth-tackle kick from Pearce on his own 10-metre line, he put on the after-burners and left Roberts and Sam Perritt for dead on his way to a 90-metre special.
Anthony Tupou crossed from another smart Pearce kick to regain the lead, before wingers John Williams and Shaun Kenny-Dowall scored in their respective corners to round out the first half. They kept their foot on the pedal in the second stanza with a double to Joel Monaghan, two more by Kenny-Dowell and further tries by Sam Perritt and Shane Shackleton.
One statistic sums up the Roosters previous woes in 2007. When Kenny-Dowall crossed for his side's fifth try to notch their 28th point of the night, it registered their highest points total for any match this season.
Their fourth win of the season owed plenty to Pearce, who conjured up four try assists and had the ball on a string with his kicking efforts.
Roosters 64 (S. Kenny-Dowall 3, J. Monaghan 2, C. Wing, A. Roberts, A. Tupou, J. Williams, S. Perritt, S. Shackleton tries, C. Fitzgibbon 9 gls, Roberts 1 gl) Cowboys 30 (M. Bowen 2, M. Bartlett, S. Southern, S. Tronc tries, A. Graham 5 gls) HT: 28-18.
In last night's other game, the Raiders conjured up images of their halcyon days in the late '80s and early '90s, showing class and maturity despite fielding an inexperienced side against a previously red-hot Eels outfit, to win 38-10.
