Rabbitohs’ season on the line after Cameron Munster seals Storm win
RABBITOHS coach Anthony Seibold said his side were given a lesson in how to play finals football after the Storm clinched a thriller to leave South Sydney fighting to stay alive in 2018.
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THE Melbourne hoodoo is real for a gallant South Sydney side who again had their hearts broken in the Victorian capital.
A Cameron Munster 35-metre field with just three minutes remaining gave the Storm a 29-28 win in front of 17306 people at AAMI Park.
The match had it all. It was played at a cracking and bruising pace with the lead changing five times.
The loss – which was South Sydney’s 15th consecutive defeat in Melbourne - now means the Rabbitohs will play for their season against either Brisbane or St George Illawarra in Sydney next Saturday.
Rabbitohs coach Anthony Seibold said the defending premiers showed his side how to play finals football.
“We were really good in patches,” Seibold said.
“They showed us in the key moments how to play finals footy.
“They punished us for every error or every penalty that we gave. They put us under pressure with it.
“We’ll learn from that. I’m really proud of the team’s effort. We came here to get a result.
“When you score 28 points you expect to win a game of footy. We didn’t, that’s why we need to be better.”
The Storm are just now one win away from getting the chance to defend their title.
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South Sydney halfback Adam Reynolds looked to have suffered a serious injury when he walked up the tunnel just before half-time with a serious shoulder injury, but he returned to star in the second half.
The Rabbitohs showed their hand early bombing three times to Josh Addo-Carr in the opening ninth minutes targeting the much taller Campbell Graham. It was third time’s a charm for the Rabbitohs when Dane Gagai scooped a fumbled Addo-Carr bomb to score.
Sam Burgess had an unhappy first half with two key handling errors with Felise Kaufisi forcing the ball free on each occasion. The first came when Burgess looked destined to score a try before dropping the ball short while the other happened when he was stung by a huge Kaufisi hit when the Rabbitohs big man was returning a kick-off. He also missed a crucial tackle which led to a try when Suli Vunivalu finished off a superb run and kick from Brodie Croft on half-time.
“Sam’s effort was high but he wasn’t happy with some personal errors,” Seibold said.
“He is his harshest judge. I don’t have to harp about that.”
The Storm hit back through Curtis Scott in the 23rd minute and snatched the lead for the first time in the game when Vunivalu scored nine minutes later.
Vunivalu’s second gave the Storm a 16-12 half-time lead.
The Rabbitohs restricted the Storm to just two points when George Burgess was sin-binned for tackling Dale Finucane without the ball but crucially scored a try of their own having forced two repeat sets with one less player on the field.
Reynolds’ boot provided another Inglis try to draw the scores level after 56 minutes.
Jennings bagged his 19th try of the season in the corner before the Storm struck back just one minute later via Cheyse Blair to have the scores level at 22-all with 14 minutes left.
A key forward pass call came against the Storm moments later which Cameron Smith labelled a “howler” on multiple occasions to referee Ashley Klein. Addo-Carr drifted across field before passing to Slater in what was deemed a forward pass from a kick return.
South Sydney made them pay immediately when Cameron Murray sliced through flimsy Joe Stimson defence to score. But again Blair returned serve after a remarkable Addo-Carr cross field kick to draw the scores level before Munster’s one-pointer.
Skipper Greg Inglis – who was treated by trainers twice in the opening 20 minutes – said his body pulled through ok.
“Behind closed doors we talk about being a disciplined side,” Inglis said.
“We had them on the ropes and then we gave a penalty away.
“We felt like we had momentum most of the game. Then we’d give a penalty away or drop the ball.”
MELBOURNE 29 (C Blair 2 S Vunivalu 2 C Scott tries C Smith 4 goals C Munster field goal) bt SOUTH SYDNEY 28 (G Inglis 2 D Gagai R Jennings C Murray tries A Reynolds 4 goals) at AAMI Park. Referee: Ashley Klein, Adam Gee.