Robinson happy with defence and game management

Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson hopes his team's combinations click ''sooner rather than later'' and also regretted a high error rate, but was otherwise pleased with his side's efforts in a shock 10-8 loss to Wests Tigers at ANZ Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Robinson was content with a debatable decision to take a penalty goal while trailing 2-0 early in the second half when opposition halfback Luke Brooks was sin-binned with the Roosters on the attack.

The Roosters ended up not scoring any further points in that period and while they scored later, were run down by a late Corey Thompson match-winner.

''I was happy with the defence. I thought the defence was really strong from both teams,'' Robinson said.

He added there ''wasn't a lot of footy played'' by either team but was happy with how his side's defence held up in the face of strong running from the Tigers' outside backs - until the line break and try inside the final six minutes that provide critical.

''I thought we tried to do what we wanted to do in attack but there wasn't enough combinations and high errors,'' he said.

''I thought they worked hard to get some stuff on. We were building as the game went on in that second half.''

The side lacked a little fluency in the absence of first-choice five-eighth Luke Keary, with fullback James Tedesco well-handled by his former club.

''I don't think we had enough opportunity as the game wore on to get them into the game enough,'' Robinson said of his playmakers, adding he hoped they would click as a unit ''sooner rather than later.''

''They've had enough time together. As you can see today we didn't execute well enough ... we were trying to force it a little bit.

''The difference in the end was a bit of error rate and a couple of inches right at the end [for Thompson's try].

''In the end, you lose the game in the last couple of minutes, it's really disappointing.''

He defended the decision to take two points against a 12-man line-up early in the second half.

''I think at 2-0 a minute into the second half - you can run it, if you score you're happy,'' he said.

''But also, that scoreboard pressure about making sure we get back on even terms, then we've got nine minutes of them being down to 12 [players], the percentage decision is to take the kick.''

Robinson also addressed the two penalties his team conceded while in possession for incorrect play-the-balls, each of which came at a critical time. 

''We've been working hard on it, everyone has,'' he said.

''You can see the effort players are making to play the ball. I don't think it's consistent. We didn't get pinged once in the trials for not attempting to play the ball. They were fairly fair today, those ones, we just have to make sure they don't happen. It's individual responsibility."