Melbourne Storm beat Sydney Roosters in titanic NRL struggle at Adelaide Oval
Melbourne Storm and Sydney Roosters have turned on another tough, physical and enthralling battle at Adelaide Oval, with the Storm holding on for a 14-12 win.
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If the Sydney Roosters’ confrontation with Melbourne Storm at Adelaide Oval on Friday night is the curtain raiser to next year’s State of Origin clash, then the main event is going to be a sensational sports event for South Australia.
The two powerful NRL clubs put on another enthralling battle with the Storm triumphant 14-12.
Just one point had decided the previous two meetings between the two teams at Adelaide Oval with the Roosters winning in 2017 and the Storm last year. The loser went on to win the grand final.
The victory has climbed the Storm a commanding six points clear of second-placed Roosters at the top of the ladder.
The Roosters dominated the early territory battle and they put the first points on the board when Latrell Mitchell kicked a penalty in front of the posts.
But against the run of play, the Storm grabbed the first try 17 minutes into the clash when they spun the ball wide for speedy winger Josh Addo-Carr to be set alight. He found Cameron Munster on the inside, who then gave the ball to Ryan Papenhuyzen to race over for the try.
When the Roosters received a penalty on the fifth tackle a few minutes later, they were able to go on the attack again and champion half back Cooper Cronk set up a try when he called for the ball on the short side.
He then off loaded to Brett Morris, playing his first game since round 4, who gave a clever pass to winger Daniel Tupou. He did a terrific job to stay in the field of play and ground the ball, before Mitchell added the two points with a conversion from the sideline.
The Storm were struggling for field position and a 1-6 penalty count against them also hurt.
It seemed the Roosters were wearing down the Storm, forced into a mountain of defensive work, and they capitalised on their momentum when Joseph Manu barged over for a try.
Again the Storm responded against the run of play when Brodie Croft scored late in the first half, pouncing on a loose ball after Roosters full back James Tedesco failed to control a grubber kick close to the line.
Storm captain Cameron Smith nailed his second conversion and the scores were locked together 12-all.
With far more opportunities inside the Roosters half, the Storm asked plenty of questions of their opponents early in the second half.
It was a contrast to the first half with the Storm controlling territory and feeding off Roosters mistakes to constantly threaten. And it was the Roosters needing to defend desperately.
Not only was that achieved, they had a couple of prime scoring chances in the final 15 minutes, only to come up short.
SCOREBOARD
MELBOURNE 14 (B Croft R Papenhuyzen tries C Smith 3 goals)
SYDNEY ROOSTERS 12 (J Manu D Tupou tries L Mitchell 2 goals)
at Adelaide Oval. Referee: Grant Atkins, Peter Gough. Crowd: 16,297.
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