THE Sydney Roosters have continued their dominant record against the Newcastle Knights with a 22-20 victory at McDonald Jones Stadium on Thursday night.
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Minus key players James Tedesco, Sam Walker, Dominic Young and Spencer Leniu, the Roosters recovered from an early 8-0 deficit and weathered a late fightback to post their seventh win against Newcastle from their past eight clashes, and their 13th from the past 15.
The result left Newcastle with two wins from their first six games, in 12th position on the ladder.
The Roosters climbed from 10th to eighth with their third win of the season.
The visitors led 16-14 after a fluctuating but highly watchable first half.
Newcastle drew first blood in the sixth minute with halfback Jackson Hastings dummied and stepped his way through to score from 10 metres out.
The home team increased their lead seven minutes later when the Roosters were too slow to take a line drop-out, conceding a penalty right in front of the posts.
The game swung dramatically four minutes later when Roosters winger Daniel Tupous scored in the corner, and Ponga injured his hip trying to bundle him into touch.
With the reigning Dally M medallist clearly limping, the Roosters grabbed the momentum and posted a second try in the 23rd minute, when lock Victor Radley backed up to score.
A Brandon Smith try with a dummy-half surge gave the visitors a 16-8 lead in the 33rd minute.
But just when it appeared the wheels had fallen off, Newcastle hit back with a Bradman Best try after an initial break from back-rower Kai Pearce-Paul.
With Ponga still inconvenienced, centre Dane Gagai took the shot at goal and nailed it from a wide angle, reducing the deficit to two points.
Newcastle appeared to have grabbed the lead in the 58th minute when Gagai produced a sensational solo effort to dive over in the corner, only for the video referee to deny him for an obstruction in the lead-up play.
The Roosters made the Knights pay seven minutes later when Radley made a midfield break and, from the ensuing play-the-ball, Tupou scored a metre from the sideline.
Winger Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii landed the conversion to give the Roosters an eight-point buffer.
But Newcastle took the game down to the wire when lock Adam Elliott crashed over between the posts with three minutes remaining.
The Roosters kept the Knights at bay, despite a long-range Ponga break that could easily have led to a try.
