Roosters march on as Tigers stun Storm

James Tedesco has orchestrated one of the biggest boilovers of the NRL season, putting in a five-star display in the Wests Tigers’ 34-16 win over Melbourne.
Tedesco lit up the 7419-strong crowd at Leichhardt Oval on Friday night, crossing for two tries and setting up another two as the Tigers jumped off the bottom of table and put a dent in the Storm’s top four aspirations.
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After the Storm looked to be sailing to an easy win, the zippy No.1 injected himself into the game, having a hand in four of his side’s six tries.
While the side’s top eight hopes were killed off several weeks ago, they eased pressure on coach Jason Taylor as they broke a five-game losing streak.
After the Tigers took a surprise 12-10 halftime lead, the Storm snatched back the advantage at the 44-minute mark when Jesse Bromwich – after beating a biting charge at the judiciary during the week – ran onto a sweet Cooper Cronk ball.
Tedesco then imposed himself on the contest. First he drew Storm winger Matt Duffie to send Pat Richards over before sealing the match in the 69th when he steamed onto a lovely Mitchell Moses short ball.
For the Storm, it was a crucial loss. Not only did they blow a chance to stay in touch with the top four, they could find themselves on the edge of the eight after the weekend.
They looked to be cruising at 10-0 thanks to a Marika Koroibete double inside 16 minutes.
However Koroibete’s night soon turned on a dime as he let in the next three tries, allowing the Tigers to power to a 12-10 advantage at the break.
Tedesco scored his side’s second after burning Koroibete for pace on the outside.
He then threw the last pass when Koroibete came rushing in off his wing to send Kevin Naiqama sailing over just before the halftime siren.
Elsewhere, the brute force of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and the flair of Michael Jennings combined to hand the Sydney Roosters a dramatic 38-28 win over Canterbury at Allianz Stadium.
In one of the games of the NRL season, the Roosters raced out to a 22-0 lead after just 25 minutes and the game looked all but over before the Bulldogs mounted a spirited fightback to lead 28-22 with 23 minutes left.
A Blake Ferguson try brought the Roosters to within two points in the 69th minute, before Jennings aptly flew like Superman in the superhero round to ground a Mitchell Pearce kick to put the home side ahead 30-28.
It was an effort reminiscent of Jennings’ match sealing four-pointer in the 2013 grand final and came on the back of some inspired charges from Waerea-Hargreaves after the Dogs snatched the lead.
The win on Friday is the Roosters’ seventh a row and keeps them on track for a top four finish.