South Sydney Suffer Golden-Point Heartbreak Against Storm

The Rabbitohs have suffered a gut-wrenching defeat at the hands of the Storm, going down 25-24 in Golden Point thanks to a field goal from Ryan Papenhuyzen in the 83rd minute.

The Rabbitohs did extremely well to overcome an early 12-0 deficit and finish regular time at 24-all.

Alex Johnston and Latrell Mitchell were the stars of the show for the Cardinal and Myrtle, with Johnston bagging four tries in his biggest haul of the season, while Mitchell had four assists.

Unfortunately it was not enough to prevent the Storm from sneaking home in extra time, with Papenhuyzen slotting a crucial one-pointer after being denied a minute earlier thanks to a South Sydney charge down.

The Storm got off to a fast start, with back-to-back tries to Harry Grant and Jahrome Hughes in the opening ten minutes setting the away side up with an early 12-0 lead.

The game settled into a grind after the frantic opening, with opportunities few and far between for both sides as they jostled for field position.

The Rabbitohs managed to break the game open and get back into the contest with a 27th minute try to Alex Johnston.

A slick shift left saw Latrell Mitchell throw a beautiful cut-out ball across the face of Isaiah Tass to hit an unmarked Johnston square on the chest. From there it was a 10m stroll to the line for one of the easiest finishes of the perennial try-scorer Johnston’s career.

With Latrell unable to slot the conversion, South Sydney found themselves trailing the Storm 12-4 – a score line that would hold untill the halftime break.

An illegal play-the-ball from Grant Anderson gifted the Rabbitohs a golden opportunity to attack early in the second half.

They were quick to capitalise off the back of the mistake, with Johnston crossing once again thanks to a Mitchell cut-out pass.

Three minutes later, South Sydney took the lead for the first time when Alex Johnston completed his hat-trick.

The attacking sequence began with a long run from Tyrone Munro down the right touch line. Munro was unable to find a teammate in support, and elected to take the tackle.

The Red and Green spun the ball left quickly on the next play, and for the third time in the game Johnston was on the receiving end of a Mitchell cut-out ball for a try.

The Rabbitohs’ lead was unfortunately short-lived as Grant Anderson finished off a nice backline move to put his side back ahead just three minutes later.

It would only take South Sydney two minutes to hit back though, with Johnston bagging his fourth try of the game when he picked off a Jahrome Hughes pass to score one against the run of play.

The Storm managed to return serve in the 68th minute after a huge kick return from Sua Fa’alogo.

The diminutive winger ran about 60m after taking a towering bomb from Mitchell on the full, before giving it to Tyran Wishart who scored under the posts untouched, putting the score at 24-20 in favour of Melbourne.

As was the theme of the second half, South Sydney decided they weren’t happy trailing. That’s when Latrell Mitchell put boot to ball with a grubber in behind the line in what was a magnificent piece of eyes-up footy.

The Storm were caught completely off guard as Tyrone Munro sprinted past all the Melbourne defenders, regathering the loose ball and diving over in the right corner to put the scores at 24-all with four minutes remaining.

With the conversion from Mitchell unsuccessful, the two sides were headed to Golden Point Extra Time.

Unfortunately for the Rabbitohs, Ryan Papenhuyzen was too good with the boot as he slotted a clutch field goal in the 83rd minute to seal the victory for Melbourne.

Match Snapshot

• Harry Grant opened the scoring in the third minute with a close-range effort from dummy half.
• Jahrome Hughes finished off a break from Grant Anderson for the Storm’s second try of the game.
• Alex Johnston opened South Sydney’s account with a try in the 26th minute.
• Johnston crossed for his second of the match just three minutes into the second half.
• South Sydney took the lead for the first time thanks to Johnston’s third try and a successful conversion from Latrell Mitchell.
• Grant Anderson scored Melbourne’s third try of the game, taking the lead back from the Rabbitohs in the 51st minute.
• Johnston scored a spectacular intercept try two minutes later, literally snatching the lead back for South Sydney.
• Sua Fa’alogo set up Tyran Wishart for a try in the 68th minute, regaining the lead for Melbourne.
• Tyron Munro scored in the 76th minute to level the scores at 24-all.
• Ryan Papenhuyzen kicked a field goal in the 83rd minute to win the game for Melbourne.

Play of the Game

This week's play of the game goes to Latrell Mitchell and Tyrone Munro, who combined spectacularly for South Sydney's match-levelling try in the 76th minute. With nothing really happening, Mitchell decided to put a pinpoint accurate grubber through the Storm line. Only Munro seemed to be aware of the play, and he took advantage of this fact to capitalise as he sprinted past the Melbourne defenders, regathered the ball and scored in the corner to level the scores at 24-all.

What’s Next?

The Rabbitohs will travel north of the border to take on the Dolphins at Suncorp Stadium next Saturday night at 7:50pm.