The Melbourne Storm have pinged a last minute 1-point victory over the Sydney Roosters 17-16 at AAMI Park on Saturday night.
It could not be closer looking at the history between these two sides. After 27 encounters, the Storm held a narrow 14-13 lead over the Roosters. In wet and slippery conditions, the Storm nudged a little further in the head-to-head battle after clinching a gritty win in the dying seconds.
Billy Slater was still missing from the Melbourne line up with Cameron Munster again replacing the QLD representative at fullback. The Storm seem to rely on Slater winning only 6/21 games without him in the line-up.
There was a close call in the opening 4 minutes for the Storm when a perfectly weighted grubber by Mitchell Pearce was mistimed by a flying Mitch Aubusson, knocking the ball on in-goal.
Roosters were continually penalised in the ruck (3-1) and Melbourne made the visitors pay. An excellent Cooper Cronk cross-field bomb under pressure in the 15th minute was held mid-air by Marika Koroibete. The in form winger rose above the clutches of Nene Macdonald to put the Storm up 4-0.
Sydney countered immediately. James Maloney held up the ball 10 metres from the line, drawing two defenders and finding Aubusson on the outside in the 20th minute. Maloney converted to put the Roosters ahead 6-4.
A high tackle on Jake Friend by Will Chambers and an infringement on the kick-chaser by Cameron Smith gifted another 4 points to the Roosters making it a 6-point game with 12 minutes remaining in the half.
Incredible completion rates from both teams did not match the treacherous conditions. It was a tight contest in the first half with some sublime displays of ball handling and long kicking from both sides.
A Felise Kaufusi try close to half time locked scores at 10-10. The interchange forward caught the defence on the back foot after running a good angle close to the posts.
“Cut out those penalties and we should be right,” commented a confident Cameron Smith at the break.
“We need to be able to control what they are doing in the ruck,” was what the Roosters coach Trent Robinson added at the break. Clearly impressed by the quality of football on display from both sides.
Cameron Smith proved again that he is a specialist kicker of the ball. On numerous occasions Smith kicked long, pulling the ball up in the Roosters in-goal. The Storm gained a whopping ” kick metres which stripped a lot of energy from the Roosters.
The battle continued in the second half and teams traded blows, penalties and close chances, thwarted by solid goal-line defence. A close chance for the Storm in the 61st minute saw Blake Green place the ball on the leg of a Roosters defender as he reached out to score.
The Roosters responded with a chance of their own 3 minutes later. A cut out play to the right corner provided Macdonald an opportunity to reach out and score. The bulky winger was shoved into touch by the cover defence. Macdonald opted to hold the ball close in the wet conditions rather than reach out to place the ball over the line.
A dubious penalty for interfering with the play the ball against Shaun Kenny-Dowall gifted Melbourne good field possession with 8 minutes on the clock. Will Chambers made the most of the opportunity, getting on the outside of his defender and crossing in the right corner.
The Roosters did not lay down. A pin-point short kick-off was regathered and the resulting set of six saw Daniel Tupou slide over in the corner. James Maloney floated a beautiful cut-out ball to the winger, who timed his run perfectly.
Cameron Smith converted his clutch conversion for the Storm and Maloney was not going to be shown up, kicking his own from the opposite angle. Scores were locked at 16-16 with 3 minutes remaining.
Cooper Cronk had a field goal charged down from 35 metres out. It was regathered and the Storm were given six more tackles. Cronk’s second dig was taken from ten metres out and the International representative made no mistake, kicking his side ahead with less than a minute remaining.
Melbourne go to the top of the NRL ladder, while the Roosters have slumped to their third loss in a row.
