A tenacious defensive effort by the Sydney Roosters handed the Melbourne Storm their first back-to-back loss in two years, with the Roosters holding on 10-6 in an ill-disciplined contest at the Sydney Football Stadium on Saturday evening.
Not since round four 2006 have the Storm succumbed to two consecutive defeats, as the reigning premiers produced an uncharacteristically stagnant performance in attack despite the return of Greg Inglis.
While Melbourne's offence was a shade of their crisp ball movement from last year, the Roosters intimidating forward pack and desperate goal-line defence further enhanced their 2008 credentials under Brad Fittler.
Two penalty goals by Sydney captain Craig Fitzgibbon proved the difference in the end, while a converted try to Billy Slater five minutes from full-time threatened to rally the visitors.
The home side grabbed their only try after seven minutes when a well-weighted cross-field kick by half-back Mitchell Pearce caused chaos in the corner before Sam Perrett eventually off-loaded to Shaun Kenny-Dowall who stretched out to score.
Kenny-Dowall, who had an inconsistent evening, could have had an early double not long later but failed to back his pace in the corner after another menacing bomb by Pearce.
Some poor handling and ill-discipline by the Storm handed the Roosters a 8-0 lead going into the break after a Craig Fitzgibbon penalty goal.
After the restart, penalties and knock-ons dominated proceedings as the match cried out for a game-turning play to spark the contest.
Anthony Minichiello almost responded with a tearing broken field run only for his opposite number Slater to scream across in cover defence in a memorable collision between two superstar full-backs.
Both sides continued to go to the air for an all important four-pointer as the Roosters lost Pearce after a ugly coming together with Slater.
The Storm were denied a certain try when Braith Anasta foiled a chip and chase set-play between Cooper Cronk and Slater before Inglis dropped a towering bomb in the in-goal 13 minutes from time.
The try finally came for Slater following a short side play which featured a grubber from Steve Turner and a toe-on by Israel Folau after Anasta failed to clean up the scraps.
Melbourne were awarded a penalty from the resulting kick-off when Matt Geyer made contact with the ball while touching the corner post, but the Storm were unable to take their chance yet again as a resolute Sydney defence earned the locals the two points.
Roosters: 10 (S Kenny-Dowall try; C Fitzgibbon conversion; Fitzgibbon 2 penalties)
Storm: 6 (B Slater try; C Smith conversion)
Source: By Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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