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A botched try from Melbourne Storm winger Justin O’Neill and a missed conversion from Cameron Smith proved costly as South Sydney notched a fighting 16-14 NRL victory in Perth on Saturday night.
The Storm were leading 10-4 in the 50th minute when O’Neill, under absolutely no pressure, dropped a simple cross-field kick with the tryline at his mercy.
South Sydney scored the next 12 points to edge out to a 16-10 lead, but the Storm were back in the contest when O’Neill scored his second try of the night in the 70th minute.
However, Smith couldn’t land the tricky conversion from the sideline, with the Rabbitohs surviving a surging run from Billy Slater in the 77th minute to secure the points.
The Rabbitohs’ eighth win of the season, which sees them go a game clear of Parramatta and the Warriors (who have a game to play on Sunday), also snapped an eight-game losing streak to the Storm.
O’Neill finished with two tries for Melbourne and Greg Inglis one, while Rabbitohs winger Fetuli Talanoa bagged a brace to go with Chris Sandow’s try.
Both sides had a case of the fumbles early but it was the Rabbitohs who adjusted better to the greasy conditions, with Talanoa twisting and turning his way through two tackles while pressed up on the touch line to notch the first try of the night in the 15th minute.
But slack defensive work from the Rabbitohs, when two defenders failed to attack a Smith grubber kick, saw O’Neill ghost in for the Storm’s opening try just five minutes later.
Slater was almost left red faced three minutes before half-time when his attempt to shepherd a grubber kick over the dead-ball line almost led to a try to Nathan Merritt.
The Storm survived that scare as the teams went into the break locked at 4-4, and a miracle pass from O’Neill in the 43rd minute, which gifted Greg Inglis a try, gave the Storm a handy lead.
But O’Neill undid all of his good work when he couldn’t grasp Brett Finch’s pin-point kick over the goal-line, with the Rabbitohs swiftly running the ball down the other end for Sandow’s try.
Issac Luke’s conversion followed by a penalty five minutes later put the Rabbitohs ahead 12-10, and the margin stretched to six points in the 61st minute when Dane Nielsen’s missed tackle on Rabbitohs centre Colin Best allowed Talanoa to bag his second.
O’Neill’s try 10 minutes from time gave the Storm hope but it wasn’t to be, with the Rabbitohs holding on in front of owner Russell Crowe and 13,164 fans.
“Certainly we had some chances,” Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy said.
“I thought the first half was pretty even as the scoreboard said but in the second half we created some chances but couldn’t quite get over the line, and you pay the price.
“They made some easy yards on us and we didn’t really pressure them with our defence and they put us under pressure with their defence.”
South Sydney coach John Lang was pleased with the performance of his team.
“We needed the two points. Every two points is valuable,” Lang said.
“And to beat the Storm at pretty much full strength … it was a really good win for us.”
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