Ropati rampant as Warriors down Roosters

Standoff Jerome Ropati came agonisingly close to equalling the club's record for most tries in a match as the New Zealand Warriors swamped the Sydney Roosters 42-16 at Mt Smart Stadium on Sunday.

The 21-year-old scythed through for two tries in each half and should have had another in the first half when he just failed to ground a grubber into the Roosters' in-goal zone.

Had he snared that one as well, Ropati would have equalled Francis Meli's record five tries in the 2003 play-off win over the Bulldogs.

As it was Ropati, in boosting his season tally to nine tries, emulated four-try hauls by Phil Blake in 1995 and Stacey Jones in 1999.

Ropati's rampage helped the Warriors to yet another home-and-away double against an opponent this year and, for the second time this season, gave the club a four-game winning run. It also further enhanced a strong finish to the year which has now returned eight wins from the last 11 matches.

Victory in the last match of the season against the Broncos next Sunday would equal the five-match winning sequence achieved when the Warriors made their finals run in 2003.

Also benefiting from the spree against the Roosters was 18-year-old right winger Patrick Ah Van who snared a double.

Less fortunate was departing fullback Brent Webb who touched down twice but had both tries disallowed by the video referee.

For all that, the nature of the win, a healthy crowd of 12,711 and perfect weather made the match one to remember for Webb and Awen Guttenbeil as they made their final home appearances for the Warriors before taking up contracts in England.

Both players had outstanding matches with Guttenbeil defying his irritating calf injury yet again, playing the entire 80 minutes as he did in his testimonial match against Cronulla.

He carried the ball 23 times for 163 metres, making five off loads and one line break. He also laid on Ropati's first try.

The Warriors have made an art form of being the first to score in matches this year and did so again when Ruben Wiki scored his sixth try of the season on the left-hand edge.

Minutes later the lead was doubled to 12-0 with the first of Ropati's tries before the Roosters were gifted two tries. Twice the Warriors were metres away from the Roosters' line only to cough up the ball to allow the visitors to go the length of the field for touchdowns to Amos Roberts and Iosia Soliola.

The Roosters returned the favour when Ah Van snapped up a loose Anthony Tupou pass to go 60 metres for a try and Ropati's second gave the Warriors a 20-10 halftime lead.

The second half was only minutes old when Epalahame Lauaki, who has been impressive since his return from a long injury lay-off, powered through several tackles for his first try of the year.

The 26-10 advantage was stretched to 32-10 when the Warriors cleverly worked the short side through Nathan Fien and Lance Hohaia, Hohaia poking through a grubber which Ah Van raced through to recover and flick up to Ropati for his third try.

The only halt in the scoring came when Wiki was sin-binned for a professional foul, a first for the hard man who has had his share of suspensions but had never previously been in the bin in 264 appearances.

With Wiki off, the Roosters scored their only other points of the day through a converted Sam Perrett try.

However, the Warriors finished the afternoon off ideally with two more tries, a fourth for Ropati and Ah Van's second from a superb long pass by Webb.

The win was the 12th of the season for the Warriors meaning they'll have at least a 50 per cent winning record in coach Ivan Cleary's first season in charge.

They've emerged from the season with seven wins from their 12 home games, more significantly six of those victories coming in their last eight home matches including each of their last three.

With one round to go, the Warriors have the fourth best attacking record (540 points), the third best defensive record (427 points) and the third best points differential at plus 113 points.

The victory was also the Warriors' biggest in 20 clashes against the Roosters, topping the 42-30 win in Sydney in 2001.

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