Sydney Roosters beat South Sydney Rabbitohs in NRL

Sydney Roosters finally claimed an elusive first NRL win of the season by beating South Sydney Rabbitohs 17-10 in Friday's derby at ANZ Stadium.

The Roosters lost their first five matches of the season for the first time since 1997, but outscored the Bunnies by three tries to two to get up and running at the sixth time of asking.

Trent Robinson's young side were thrashed 42-10 by their neighbours in their first game of the season in March, but Daniel Tupou took a cross-field kick from John Hastings to put them in front after 11 minutes following a great break from Jake Friend.

Aidan Guerra barged his way over and Hastings converted to put the Roosters 10-0 up, but Aaron Gray reduced the half-time deficit to six points when he went over five minutes before the break.

Dylan Napa added a third try for the Roosters seven minutes after the interval when Greg Inglis failed to ground the ball in goal and Hastings added the extras before sending a drop-goal through the posts.

Cody Walker capitalised on a late error from Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Bryson Goodwin converted to cut the gap to seven points, but the Roosters held on for an elusive victory at the expense of Michael Maguire's side - who suffered a third defeat.

"We've worked really hard for that win. It's only one win but it's much more than that for us. It's a good confidence boost for the young fellows," said Napa in a post-match interview.