Match Details
Match Date	25th Mar, 2001
Opponent	Sydney Roosters
Result	Loss 12-38
Coach	Steven Folkes
Captain	Darren Britt
Venue	Sydney Football Stadium
Crowd	15,251
Referee	Bill Harrigan

The Sydney Roosters have cruelly tarnished the Bulldogs premiership aspirations with a crushing 38-12 victory at the Sydney Football Stadium this afternoon. In front of 15,245 fans, the Roosters ran in six tries to two to completely overwhelm the previously unbeaten Bulldogs in testing conditions.

After leading by eight points at the break, the Roosters took control of the game in the first ten minutes of the second half, crossing for two tries to blow the game wide open. Brad Fittler produced one of his trademark sidesteps close to the line to stretch the half time lead to 14 and his handiwork was mirrored by Chris Flannery shortly after to give the Roosters an unassailable 26-6 lead.

Nigel Vagana, in one of the few second half highlights for the blue and whites, crossed to reduce the scoreline to 26-12 with just under twenty minutes left, but tries to Ryan Cross and Shannon Hegarty at the death ensured a lop-sided scoreline in favour of Sydney.

The bad news for the Bulldogs didn't end at the scoreboard, with Willie Talau being placed on report for contrary conduct (dropping of the knees). The only major injury to come out of the game was suffered by Roosters fullback Luke Phillips, who strained his right medial ligament and could be out of action for up to three weeks.

Despite their humiliating defeat, the Bulldogs still sit atop the Telstra Premiership ladder a point ahead of next week's rivals Brisbane. The Roosters moved into a tie for second, along with Brisbane and Cronulla on eight points.

Source: www.rleague.com

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