The Sydney City Roosters brought Parramatta's three-game NRL winning streak to an emphatic end with a 48-12 thrashing of the Eels on their own turf yesterday. The Roosters scored eight tries to register their fifth consecutive victory. They also bottled up Jarryd Hayne, their opponents' star full-back who is nicknamed "The Hayne Plane". "I thought we had a temporary closure of the airport tonight," Brian Smith, the Roosters coach, told NRL.com in reference to Hayne's low-impact performance. "But he stretched us at every opportunity."
Hayne did beat three players to get the Eels on the board in the first half with a solo effort, but it was the Roosters' quartet of halves Todd Carney and Mitchell Pearce, lock Braith Anasta and Anthony Minichiello, the full-back, who impressed the most. "When you say four [playmakers], I say nearly 17, the way our blokes are playing," said Carney, who also kicked eight conversions from eight attempts.
"We're scoring the tries out wide but the set-up work they're doing for us goes unnoticed and while they keep doing that we'll keep winning." The Roosters are the form team of the NRL. They sit third in the table, two points behind the St George Illawarra Dragons, who they face at the Sidney Cricket Grounds next week. In yesterday's other NRL game, Wests Tigers moved even on points with the Roosters, in fourth place, with a 24-22 victory over second-from-bottom Cronulla Sharks.
In England, Mark O'Meley ran in two tries as Hull held off a second-half Harlequins revival at the Twickenham Stoop to move into fourth place in the Super League table. The visitors had opened up a 30-0 half-time lead, thanks to a try each from O'Meley, Kirk Yeaman, Danny Houghton, Jordan Turner and Sam Moa. But Quins responded with three tries of their own - through Luke Dorn, Will Sharp and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook - before late scores from Jordan Tansey and O'Meley sealed the points.
Danny Tickle kicked 14 points as Hull leapfrogged Leeds to move onto 30 points in the Super League table, 10 behind leaders Wigan. * Agencies