Dragons outgrind Roosters at SCG

St George Illawarra have ground the Sydney Roosters into the SCG dust with a 19-12
victory to go four points clear at the top of the NRL ladder and affirm their
favouritism for the premiership.
In a brutal physical assault in front of a massive crowd of 37,994, the Dragons
outmuscled the home side, scoring three tries to two and handing coach Wayne Bennett
a victory in his 600th game as a first grade coach.
The kings of the grind were content to run down the Roosters slowly, earning the ire
of the crowd with decisions to take penalty shots at goal and leaving it until the
59th minute to finally hit the front with a 50m charge by a rampaging Ben Creagh.
Five-eighth Jamie Soward nailed a 68th minute field goal to give the Dragons the
breathing space to see off a Todd Carney try two minutes later which made the score
13-12.
Dragons hooker Dean Young sealed the deal with a 76th minute try from dummy-half,
proving grind beats flair after Roosters centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall had launched a
counter-attack from his own end.
The loss ended a five-game winning streak from the Roosters and sent the Dragons
clear of a chasing pack, with Penrith able to close the gap to two if they beat
Canberra on Monday night.
The Roosters took a 6-4 lead into the break after a bruising first half played at a
frantic pace.
The home side lost centre Kane Linnett with a nasty looking knee injury in just the
eighth minute but that didn't stop them scoring first just seconds later.
The try was not without controversy as Anthony Minichiello appeared to bobble the
ball as he put it down, video referee Bill Harrigan coming up with a benefit of the
doubt decision.
The Dragons muscled up, though, and their physical dominance paid dividends when
some Mark Gasnier magic - on a day a statue of his uncle Reg was unveiled in the SCG
precinct - returned in the 32nd minute, the former Test centre's lovely quick hands
sending Jason Nightingale over.
They might have taken the lead but were denied twice by Harrigan, once when Creagh
knocked forward a kick and then when Brett Morris' foot touched the sideline as he
planted the ball down.
In the only sour note for the Dragons, forward Matt Prior suffered a shoulder injury
late in the first half.