The Sydney Roosters earned a hard-fought 22-18 victory against Canberra in a pulsating top-four NRL contest at GIO Stadium on Sunday.
The Roosters clinched a fourth straight win and snapped a five-game losing streak in Canberra, as 19,530 fans made it the biggest regular season crowd in the capital since 2010.
Roosters fullback James Tedesco continued his superb season and sliced through the Raiders' defence to put Victor Radley in for the opening try on four minutes.
Canberra soon hit back when English star John Bateman flicked one out the back door for Jordan Rapana to scamper over from three metres out.
The Raiders then marched back down field and made it two tries in four minutes after Jarrod Croker collected the final pass to score his 122nd try in his 250th match.
But the premiers weren't going anywhere and when Raiders fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad put down a bomb, Roosters star Latrell Mitchell swooped and shrugged off three defenders to score.
The next try arrived when Roosters five-eighth Luke Keary hit a pinpoint kick for Daniel Tupou, who leapt over Jordan Rapana and scored in the corner.
Mitchell slotted his second straight sideline conversion and the Roosters took an 18-12 lead into halftime.
The Tedesco show continued in the second half as the star fullback manoeuvred an incredible catch-and-cut-out pass for Tupou to score his second on 53 minutes.
Tedesco now has 12 tries and 12 try assists this season and is among the favourites to win the Dally M medal.
Canberra were determined to make it a grandstand finish when co-captain Josh Hodgson guided a grubber through for Elliott Whitehead, but it proved the last score of the match.
The win keeps the Roosters in second on the ladder while Canberra are third and will drop to fourth if South Sydney upset Melbourne on Sunday night.
AAP.
