Storm winger Xavier Coates came up with another spectacular match-winning try as Melbourne downed the Roosters 18-12 at Allianz Stadium on Thursday night.
With the scores locked 12-12 and six minutes remaining, Coates picked up a rolling ball and showed enormous strength to power through three defenders and slam the ball down to hand the Storm a ninth win in their past 10 clashes with the Roosters.
Coming on the back of his wonder try against the Warriors in Round 2 and an acrobatic four-pointer in the win over the Broncos, it adds another epic moment to the winger's impressive highlight reel.
The Storm struck the first blow in the 13th minute when Will Warbrick tapped a bomb back to Eli Katoa who found Jahrome Hughes and the halfback scooted away to post his second try of the season. Nick Meaney's conversion made it 6-0.
It took the Roosters just five minutes to find an answer also through a kick with Daniel Tupou out-jumping Warbrick to knock the ball back for Michael Jennings to score after Meaney failed to clean up. Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii's conversion tied it up at 6-6.
Jahrome Hughes Try
The teams then traded mistakes through Katoa and James Tedesco as the defensive intensity ramped up and the error count had hit eight after 25 minutes of the contest.
Some strong goal line defence by Nat Butcher denied Katoa in the 27th minute and the Roosters came away but a dangerous tackle penalty against Brandon Smith allowed the Storm out of their own end.
Come the 31st minute and a pinpoint high kick by Cameron Munster was taken by Katoa who managed to hold off three defenders to get the ball down as the Storm took a 12-6 advantage.
Xavier Coates Try
The Roosters pushed hard in the closing minutes of the half with Naufahu Whyte going close but the Storm defence held firm and they took a six-point lead to the sheds.
The mistakes continued early in the second with Terrell May coming up with a loose carry for the Roosters and Joe Chan putting it down in the play the ball before an uncharacteristic error by Tedesco cut another attacking move short for the home side.
With 25 minutes to play the Storm were reduced to 12 men when Munster was sent to the bin for a professional foul on Tedesco and the Roosters almost made them pay immediately when Joey Manu found space and offloaded to Victor Radley who crossed but the pass was ruled forward.
The Storm were able to survive the 10 minutes with Munster off the field but in the 68th minute the Roosters grabbed their second when Luke Keary kicked high and Suaalii tapped it back to Manu who crossed in the corner. Suaalii then nailed the conversion from the sideline to tie it up at 12-12.
Michael Jennings Try
With six minutes to play the Storm took the lead when Manu spilled a high kick and the ball fell to Shawn Blore who passed to Harry Grant who put in a grubber which Coates collected and powered through Jared Waerea-Hargreaves to score and the visitors led 18-12.
From there the Storm were able to grip on for their fourth win of the season to sit second on the ladder.
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Match Snapshot
- The Storm lost their captain's challenge in the fourth minute and the Roosters lost their challenge in the 45th minute.
- Roosters prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves was placed on report in the eighth minute for a late tackle on Christian Welch.
- Nelson Asofa-Solomona entered game in the 28th minute for his first NRL action of 2024. He had nine runs and made 18 tackles in 33 minutes of game time.
- After running for 347 metres in Round 6 as a fulllback, Joey Manu was restricted to just 103 metres in his return to the centres.
- Storm hooker Harry Grant came up with 46 tackles.
- Roosters fullback James Tedesco was put on report in the 71st minute for an attempted trip on Ryan Papenhuyzen.
Waerea-Hargreaves on report for late hit on Welch
- The Storm came up with three line breaks to nil in the first half and finished the night with six line breaks to one.
- Storm five-eighth Cameron Munster was sin binned in the 55th minute for a professional foul.
- Roosters fullback James Tedesco ran for 193 metres and had six tackle breaks.
- Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii has kicked 22 goals from 22 attempts at Allianz Stadium.
- Storm winger Xavier Coates has scored eight tries in his past four games against the Roosters.
- Victor Radley ran for 175 metres for the Roosters and made 37 tackles.
Joseph Manu Try
Play of the Game
With four of the game's great aerialists on the wings there were plenty of bombs launched but it was Storm back-rower Eli Katoa who came up with one of the catches of the night in the 31st minute when he soared high to bring down a Cameron Munster kick. He then showed great strength to swivel and get the ball down despite three Roosters defenders doing their best to hold him up. The try was the 19th of Katoa's career in his 73rd match.
Eliesa Katoa Try
What they Said
"I thought in the end we were really lucky to get away with the game even though we created a lot of opportunities, we just seemed to be really impatient. Even the first captain's challenge, five or six minutes in, I'm not sure who made that decision but it just looked like we were taking the easy option a bit too much. As the game wore on our defence was really good and it made up for our lack of patience." - Storm coach Craig Bellamy
Storm: Round 7
"Frustrated at the effort put in, frustrated with us not coming up with a little bit more and frustrated with a couple of calls. The rules are really simple and both of them were really clear [Asofa-Solomona lending weight to push Katoa over the line and Reimis Smith disruptor on Manu]. It was really simple these decisions tonight. It was a big focus on last plays, and it was a really good contest in the middle of the park and it came down to five last-play tries." - Roosters coach Trent Robinson
Roosters: Round 7
What's Next
The Roosters face off against the Dragons in the traditional Anzac Day clash at Allianz Stadium on Thursday.
The Storm will also feature on Anzac Day when they host the Rabbitohs at AAMI Park.