NRL: Michael Jennings stars on Sydney Roosters return
Sunday 28 June 2015 12:43, UK
Michael Jennings bounced back from a one-game suspension after his recent arrest to spearhead the Sydney Roosters to third place in the NRL.
The Roosters downed the Gold Coast Titans 20-10 on Sunday to continue their climb towards the top spots in the competition standings after 16 rounds.
Jennings, who was ruled out of his side’s win over St George Illawarra last week after being arrested on offensive behaviour charges during a run-in with police, scored one try and set up another.
The star centre looked dangerous in attack as he works towards holding his place in the New South Wales side for next week's State of Origin decider against Queensland.
The Brisbane Broncos are the outright leaders of the NRL following a 44-22 thumping of Newcastle Knights on Friday.
Brisbane raced to an early 20-0 lead on their way to their fifth straight win as second rower Matt Gillett and winger Lachlan Maranta claimed try doubles.
North Queensland's 11-game winning streak came to an end after they surrendered an 18-point lead to lose 24-18 to the Cronulla Sharks in Townsville.
The Cowboys went into the match without their inspirational playmaker Johnathan Thurston, who was rested by coach Paul Green amid his heavy State of Origin workload, but they still raced to an 18-0 half-time lead.
The Sharks refused to hoist the white flag and piled on 24 unanswered points for a stunning second-half turnaround.
Aaron Gray's outstanding rookie year continued as the young winger starred in South Sydney's 20-8 win over Manly on Friday.
Gray scored two tries and threw the final pass for another as the defending champions kept the Sea Eagles anchored to the bottom of the standings and moved Souths into fifth spot.
Melbourne are away to the Canterbury Bulldogs on Monday, while Shaun Johnson again provided the spark as the New Zealand Warriors consolidated their position in the NRL top eight with a 30-8 win over Canberra Raiders in Auckland.
Johnson scored a try and created another shortly afterwards to give the Warriors a 16-point buffer early in the second half.
His overall contribution added the gloss to a Warriors performance in which they controlled proceedings early on before pulling away in the second spell.
Parramatta winger Semi Radradra scored a hat-trick as the Eels beat St George-Illawarra Dragons 16-12, but he was outdone by Penrith’s David Simmons, who ran in four tries as the Panthers carved up the Wests Tigers 35-12 at Leichhardt Oval.
