Coaches hail Roosters' defence in clinical NRL win

It wasn't pretty for fans, but Roosters coach Trent Robinson described his side's 14-0 NRL win over the Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium as "a really pleasing game".

The Roosters had struggled away from home so far this season, losing all three of their previous matches outside of the new Allianz Stadium in Sydney.

"I felt the calmness for the first time this year on the goal line," Robinson said.

"If we didn't do that, we would have offered momentum. They had field position but they didn't have momentum, which was the difference. We continued to control that. Fourteen-nil, I'll take that in Auckland."

Robinson was effusive in his praise for his team in a game that was always going to be affected by the constant heavy rain throughout.

"It's easy to discuss it as a coach, it's hard for these boys to go out and do it. I can ask for it but it takes a good, honest group of players to  forget all the pretty stuff and dig in. I'm just really proud of the players," he said.

The match came on a five-day turnaround for both sides after they'd played their traditional Anzac Day fixtures. The win lifts the Roosters into the top four, where Robinson naturally wants them to stay.

"We're gutted we didn't get the result," said Warriors coach Andrew Webster, whose side is now on a two-game slide that sends them down to eighth on the ladder.

"I felt like we had enough ball to win tonight, so I'm not frustrated about that part. I knew it was going to be the case that we weren't going to be perfect. I wish we'd iced a couple of tries. We dropped the ball over the line but to their credit they came up with some really good defensive effort to stop us."

Webster said the officiating had "no impact on the result", despite a dubious non-call on what looked to be a clear-cut shoulder charge by Rooster Sitili Tupouniua at a crucial moment in the second half.

"We were the ones who had the impact on the result tonight."

The Warriors had lost captain Tohu Harris and in-form fullback Charnze Niccol-Klokstad, but Robinson still regarded them as a real threat.

"They still had their spine in order, so they still had a lot of experience there," he said.

"Tohu Harris is probably the key out in the way they've decided to play the pack this year. But a lot of the wraps have been on Wayde (Egan) and Shaun (Johnson) and we did a really good job on them tonight."

Brandon Smith earned Robinson's praise for his ability to set up the game-clinching try to Tupouniua.

"He (Smith) has brought a lot of energy for us. It takes a while to understand a new club system … he's started to imprint his runs and kicks into the game."