Jared Waerea-Hargreaves of the Roosters claims a try that was later disallowed. Photo / Getty Images
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves of the Roosters claims a try that was later disallowed. Photo / Getty Images
The Sydney Roosters are making a habit of winning with their backs against the wall after taking care of Manly 18-12 to rise into second spot on the NRL ladder.
Having taken care of Canterbury last week without their NSW State of Origin stars, the Roosters on Monday night produced another stellar defensive effort to down the Sea Eagles at Allianz Stadium - despite playing almost the entire second half with just two fit reserves.
Daniel Mortimer and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck left the field with concussion either side of the halftime break after ugly head knocks - Tuivasa-Sheck's collision also resulting in Manly forward James Hasson being taken to hospital with bleeding on the eye.
While the Roosters were short-handed, they did still have Sonny Bill Williams on their side, the game's biggest five-eighth once again showcasing his playmaking skills to engineer three of his side's four tries.
NSW centre Michael Jennings scored a second-half double - including the clincher 10 minutes from time when he ran onto a delightful Williams pass to kill off Manly's slender hopes.
Williams came up with the key play for Tuivasa-Sheck's opening try after just seven minutes, but it was the defensive effort in the ensuing 15 minutes which showed just why the Roosters are a genuine premiership force.
Manly enjoyed eight straight sets on the Roosters line but never really threatened the scoreboard, the defensive effort in contrast to that which the Sea Eagles showed when Jake Friend waltzed over from 20 metres.
Sea Eagles utility Jamie Buhrer dropped the ball over the line after the halftime siren under great defensive pressure from Aidan Guerra but, when Jamie Lyon scored eight minutes after the restart, the visitors found life.
Jennings took some air out of their sails when he scored five minutes later as the Roosters ran it on the last, the home side going out by more than a converted try when fill-in goalkicker Boyd Cordner landed his only goal of the night on the back of a controversial penalty.
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, playing for the first time since being sent off in the last meeting between the two sides, claimed he had been taken high by Justin Horo, the Roosters delaying a scrum long enough to allow the video referee to intervene and award the penalty.
Manly coach Geoff Toovey was dumbfounded by the decision - particularly given Brett Stewart appeared to be taken out in mid air a minute later with no penalty going his side's way.
"If they are going to do it once, then bring it in," Toovey said of the video referee intervening.
"It's either in or it's out."
Asked whether the video referee was having too much sway on the game, Sea Eagles skipper Jamie Lyon said: "I think so, on occasions like that when you (the referee) are a metre or two away.
"I think he's been refereeing enough now to make a decision like that on the spot."
Roosters coach Trent Robinson admitted his side's defensive stand in the opening half set up the win.
"It's hard, you don't want those sets but you get a gauge on where you're at after those eight sets defensively whether you're on or not.
"You can often feel in the first 20 minutes whether you are defending well for the night and that certainly gave us a good gauge."
