The Sydney Roosters hold on to the emotions long enough to beat the South Sydney Rabbitohs

During a steamy second half, they sometimes seemed to drop more balls than they caught. But so did Souths, as the players went down in convulsions as if they had been sniped from the stands. And the Roosters under Trent Robinson have never fretted about graduation rates.

While the Souths led 10-0 and had the physical advantage, the Roosters kept their sanity.

Robinson’s decision to keep Waerea-Hargreaves and Brandon Smith out of the opening changes and to ensure neither overcooked resulted in the pair tying for the Tricolors’ first try.

Waerea-Hargreaves played the ball with Cameron Murray still under him, Smith duly sped right past where the Rabbitohs’ skipper would otherwise have been at the marker, handing Koloamatangi a clean pair of Nikes in the process. The follow-up – Luke Keary chipkicking Daniel Tupou over the top to jump over the tryline was very pleasing to the eye. Glamor stuff from the NRL’s glamor club.

It continued like this after the break. Slowly but surely, the roosters’ anger was contained and sustained. Slowly, surely, they moved forward. So when the competition inevitably started, as the Roosters and Rabbitohs always do, they were ahead by 20 points in a row.

With three minutes remaining, Joey Manu rolled over Isaiah Tass for the second time in the match. The first time he smashed the ball free with one of the best saves anyone could wish for. On the second he went into the barrel and came over the top from behind in what referee Gerard Sutton described as a “careless” tackle.

He was joined by Michael Chee Kam to join in the ensuing hubbub with the Match Review Committee to clear it now.

It’s the oldest rivalry in the game, after all. The lid would only stay for so long.

The final 90 seconds was real boiling point stuff as the Rabbitohs chased a win with one last fling.

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However, the Roosters will uphold the lessons they learned and implemented from last September’s chaos.

You’ll need them back in the diary around September 27th on September 1st for the next installment of The Best Friday Night You’ll Find In Sin City.

And let’s be honest, probably again after that.