Live: Roosters on top in semifinal after Manly lose match-winning hero in first tackle

The Roosters may have saved their best until last.

Sandon Smith put up a kick to the corner which was caught by centre Joey Manu.

The centre then casually throws a one-handed pass to winger Dom Young who grounds the footy in the corner.

Manly have their third try of the night, with Ben Trbojevic running a great line and busting through the Roosters defensive line to score.

It was a beautiful no-look pass from Manly five-eighth Luke Brooks to Trbojevic, who busted through Joey Manu and Sandon Smith.

Sandon Smith has kicked a penalty goal to extend the Roosters lead to 36-10.

It comes after James Tedesco was taking off the ball during a kick-chase.

Manly fullback Tom Trbojevic was the Sea Eagles who gave away the penalty, and frankly is lucky not to be in the sin-bin.

Joseph Sua’ali’i appears to have been limping earlier, and he did not take the penalty goal.

The Roosters centre is continuing.

Well done Tommy Talau.

He has produced a moment of individual brilliance to score for the Sea Eagles.

Daly Cherry-Evans kicked across the field to an unmarked corner, with Talau screaming through.

The Manly winger gets a hand on it and forces it forward.

But he gets ahead of the footy while it is still in the air, and is able to get his hand on the ball and grounds it.

A terrific effort from Talau.

The Roosters are too good.

James Tedesco has his second try of the night, on the back of some brilliant skills from his teammates.

Joey Manu made four Sea Eagles miss, gets an offload away, and two more passes from Roosters leads to Tedesco scoring.

Connor Watson threw the final pass after a picture-perfect sidestep.

The Roosters are too good tonight and they are going to win.

Joseph Sua’ali’i has kicked another goal to extend the Roosters’ lead to 28-4.

Manly thought they had a scrum 10 metres from their own line after Nat Butcher dropped the ball attempting to score.

Roosters captain James Tedesco has immediately asked for a challenge, claiming Manly halfback Daly Cherry-Evans was illegally holding him back off the ball.

He is right. Lazy from Cherry-Evans who just held on for no reason.

The Roosters lead by four converted tries.

Oh no.

We have seen a howler from referee Grant Atkins.

A Rooster, it looked like Nat Butcher, has knocked-on, while running back towards his own goal-line.

The ball has gone forward and collected by James Tedesco, but Atkins has called it backwards.

ABC Sport’s Luke Lewis thinks that decision is as bad as it gets.

“That is the worst decision I have ever seen.”

Daniel Tupou has scored in the corner, on the set after Manly conceded a knock-on.

It was too easy for the Roosters, who shifted to the left and Tupou dived into the corner.

We have kick-off for the second half of the second NRL semifinal.

The Roosters, with a 20-4 lead, kick-off and they will be running the the right of your screen.

Manly needs to make a strong, but they drop the ball in the opening set.

Manly challenge the decision, but the bunker says Manly’s Josh Aloiai placed the ball on the foot of a Rooster.

That is categorically wrong. Aloiai placed the footy on the ground and it was kicked (accidentally) away from the Roosters’ tackler.

Harsh against the Sea Eagles.

Manly have something to build on after scoring in the final minute of the first half.

The missed conversion will hurt, but it is the brightest moment in a half which was dominated by the Sydney Roosters.

The Roosters were physically dominant and scored three tries, including two in four minutes, to have a nice advantage at half time.

Manly needed that. Try on the stroke of half-time.

Halfback Daly Cherry-Evans has put a nice chip kick on fourth tacke to the in-goal.

Haumole Olakau’atu gets the perfect bounce and scores Manly’s first try. 

And Reuben Garrick missed a gimme. That was a poor conversion attempt.

Manly trail 20-4.

Sydney halfback Sandon Smith has scored the Roosters’ third try.

The number 7 collected the footy on Manly’s 30-metre line, after a wayward pass which forced Smith to retreat for the footy.

But the Rooster put on a pair of brilliant sidesteps that bested Daly Cherry-Evans and Tom Trbojevic.

The Roosters lead 20-0.

James Tedesco has scored a beautiful try in his 250th NRL match.

The Roosters run the ball on the final tackle, going down the short side along the left wing.

Five-eighth Luke Keary threw a beautiful pass out the back to Tedesco who passed to winger Daniel Tupou.

Tupou runs down the wing and draws in the Manly fullback, passes the ball back to Tedesco, who grounds the footy to score.

Cynical play from the Manly Sea Eagles on their goal-line has led to the Sydney Roosters kicking a goal through Joseph Sua’ali’i.

Manly second-rower Haumole Olakau’atu initially gave away a six-again restart for a hand on the ball in the ruck.

He then gave away a full penalty for not clearing the ruck.

It may have been a tactical decision, because the Roosters looked like they were on the verge of scoring their second try of the night.

There have been 25 minutes played at the Sydney Football Stadium.

ABC Sport’s Luke Lewis — a two-time premiership winner — says the offloads from both teams are proving to be a powerful weapon for Sydney and Manly.

“Both sides are really throwing a lot at each other.”

Some good news for the Manly Sea Eagles — Jake Trbojevic is back on the field.

He went off after the second tackle of the match for a Head Injury Assessment.

Put he has passed the assessment and is back on the field.

Victor Radley is back and he is on the scoreboard.

The Roosters have dominated possession and territory in the opening 12 minutes.

That pressure finally led to points, when James Tedesco produced the perfect flat pass to Radley, who busts through the defensive line and scores under the posts.