The St. George Illawarra Dragons beat the Sydney Roosters 32-8 to win their first National Rugby League title since entering Australia’s elite rugby league competition as a joint venture.
Jason Nightingale got two tries as the Dragons, who trailed 8-6 at halftime, outscored the Roosters by five tries to two last night in front of a crowd of 82,334 at Sydney’s ANZ Stadium. Dragons stand-off Jamie Soward added 12 points with the boot.
The Dragons, who split operations between Sydney and Wollongong, claimed their first premiership 11 years after joining the NRL following a merger of the St. George Dragons and Illawarra Steelers. St. George had won the competition’s forerunner 15 times, its last victory coming in 1979.
“It’s been a long time coming but we’ve got there,” Dragons captain Ben Hornby told the Nine Network. “We worked so hard for this.”
The Roosters, based in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, had been seeking to become the first team in 76 years to win the title after finishing in last place the previous year.
The Roosters led at halftime after tries from Braith Anasta and Mitch Aubusson canceled out Mark Gasnier’s eighth-minute opener for the Dragons, who finished the regular season atop the standings for the second straight year.
Nightingale scored a second-half double which Soward converted to put the Dragons up 18-8 with 19 minutes to go before Dean Young and Nathan Fien added four-pointers. Soward added a penalty goal to his five conversions.
To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Baynes in Sydney at dbaynes@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christopher Elser at at celser@bloomberg.net
L'ANZ Stadium, stade où s'est disputée la finale de la National Rugby League.
 Les St. George Illawarra Dragons, créés en 1998, remportent pour la première fois de son histoire la National Rugby League, en battant 32-8 les Sydney Roosters à l'ANZ Stadium de Sydney devant  spectateurs.

St George a construit sa victoire en deuxième période, en effet les Roosters menaient 8-6 à la mi-temps avec des essais de Braith Anasta et de Mitchell Aubusson contre un essai de St George marqué par Mark Gasnier. En seconde période, St George a nettement dominé son adversaire en marquant quatre nouvelles essais pour finalement l'emporter sur le score de 32-8. St George avait également remporté la saison régulière.