Storm 28 defeated Rabbitohs 22
13 Jun 2009
The South Sydney Rabbitohs fell short in only one area in their match against the Melbourne Storm tonight...on the scoreboard.
The Storm mounted a late comeback to defeat the South Sydney Rabbitohs 28 points to 22 at Members Equity Stadium in Perth in front of 15,197 Rugby League supporters.
The Rabbitohs fought hard in a totally committed effort leading until the 69th minute of the match, but the Storm scored three late tries to steal the victory.
The Rabbitohs scored first in the fourth minute of play when winger Jamie Simpson took an intercept on the right hand side of the field, racing 65 metres to score.
15 minutes later, Simpson scored his second, after the Rabbitohs capitalised on a repeat set of six to score in the right hand corner. Chris Sandow’s sideline conversion gave the Rabbitohs a ten point lead after 20 minutes.
The Storm struck straight back when Greg Inglis scored, beating three defenders to touch down. Eight minutes later Ryan Hoffman crashed over from close range, with Cameron Smith’s conversion locking the scores at 10-all going into half time.
The Rabbitohs were playing strongly and looked dangerous in the opening quarter. They were defending stoutly and looked the goods again early in the second half.
The Rabbitohs again scored early,with David Fa’alogo charging onto a short ball from John Sutton in the 44th minute. Issac Luke converted to give South Sydney a six-point lead.
The Storm scored four minutes later through replacement forward Wairangi Koopu scoring after a good run from Steve Turner.
Winger Nathan Merritt scored in the 53rd minute after Craig Wing grubber-kicked into the in-goal and the ball was spilled by Greg Inglis. Merritt dived on the ball for the try. Luke kicked the conversion to extend the Rabbitohs’ lead to eight.
Cooper Cronk scored for the Storm in the 62nd minute, Steve Turner’s try in the 69th minute and Joseph Tomane’s try in the 75th minute, gave the Storm the late victory, 28 points to 22.
The Rabbitohs fought hard for the entire game, showing wonderful commitment and effort to take one of the competition heavyweights right to the line. Colin Best’s defence was outstanding, forcing Craig Bellamy to shift Greg Inglis to the other side of the field to try and have more impact. Michael Crocker was very aggressive in both attack and defence and led the way for the Rabbitohs. John Sutton was strong in the halves, as was Craig Wing when he had his hands on the ball. The Rabbitohs’ forward pack muscled up tonight against a strong opposition.
Rabbitohs Head Coach Jason Taylor said: “We’re not concerned about the scoreboard. We’re disappointed we didn’t get the two points, but we came here to play the type of football that’s been missing the past couple of weeks and we did that tonight.”
“Our defence did well tonight first and foremost. We worked hard to address that this week.
“We feel our season started tonight and that’s the type of footy we want to play for the rest of the season.”
Rabbitohs captain Roy Asotasi said: “We started both halves well, and there were plenty of positives out of the game.”
“We had to challenge ourselves against a quality side like Melbourne and we did that tonight.”
Taylor added: “The crowd support was great tonight. You could tell it was home game.”
“The atmosphere was superb and it was a really positive experience all round.
“We’re proud of our performance. This is a turning point for our season. We worked hard in the simple areas of the game.
“We showed tonight that we are a committed team and when we play with effort we’re hard to beat.
“We still feel we should have won the game, but there are lots of postives to take out of that performance.”
Storm Head Coach Craig Bellamy said: “Souths started both halves strongly so we were kind of playing catch up.”
“Souths have got a lot of strikepower. They’re dangerous guys with the footy.
“They worried us tonight and put us under plenty of pressure.”
Storm captain Cameron Smith said: “Souths were really strong tonight and they were led by Michael Crocker, He was always going to play well tonight.”
The Rabbitohs have the bye in round 15 before taking on the Newcastle Knights in Monday Night Football in round 16.
Melbourne Storm 28 (Greg Inglis, Ryan Hoffman, Wairangi Koopu, Cooper Cronk, Steve Turner, Joseph Tomane tries; Cameron Smith 2 goals)
defeated
South Sydney Rabbitohs 22 (Jamie Simpson 2, David Fa’alogo, Nathan Merritt tries; Issac Luke 2, Chris Sandow goals)
In the Toyota Cup game at North Sydney Oval today, the Melbourne Storm defeated the South Sydney Rabbitohs 46 points to 20.
Jason Clark was judged man of the match for the Rabbitohs in their home game on the other side of the harbour.
Melbourne Storm 46 (Matt Duffie 3, Rob Rochow, Jesse Bromwich, Fred Makimare, Sam Joe, Blake Leary tries; Gareth Widdop 7 goals)
defeated
South Sydney Rabbitohs 20 (Dylan Farrell, Jason Clark, Brad Takairangi, Josh Mansour tries; Adam Reynolds, Junior Vaivai goals)
In the NSW Cup, the North Sydney Bears defeated Cronulla 17-10 at North Sydney Oval.
Rabbitohs players Beau Falloon and Chris McQueen both crossed for tries in the Bears’ seventh win of the season.
North Sydney Bears 17 (Beau Falloon, Chris McQueen, Reece Robinson tries; Justin Hunt 2 goals; Jarryd Hogan field goal)
defeated
Cronulla 10