Storm shade Sydney in SFS shootout

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Sydney Roosters v Melbourne Storm

Melbourne have held on for a high-scoring 34-30 win over the Roosters in Thursday night's NRL Round 21 opener at Allianz Stadium.

It was a difficult night for the visiting Storm outfit - already without star fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen (calf) and Maroons captain Cam Munster (personal reasons) - they then lost reigning Dally M medalist Jahrome Hughes during the game with a suspected dislocated shoulder.

The Melbourne halfback was escorted from the field by trainers in the 43rd minute after pulling up lame attempting a tackle and did not return.

A willing contest throughout, it was certainly tit-for-tat early with the two sides trading tries in the first twenty minutes. Daniel Tupou started things off in the sixth minute for the Roosters before Storm prop Josh King fired back at the 10th minute. Tupou had a double five minutes later after leaping high to cleanly take it and put the hosts back ahead 12-6, recording hi 177th career try in the process and passing Brett Morris into fifth place on the all-time tryscorer list.

Jack Howarth kept the back-and-forward going at the 20th minute after benefiting from a Tyran Wishart grubber which saw Xavier Coates claim possession and feed it on to the centre - although Meaney failed to convert from out wide allowing the Roosters to hold the lead at 12-10.

Harry Grant - comfortably the best player on the park across the 80 minutes - scored next on 25 minutes to put the visitors ahead for. the first time, fooling the marker and other defenders close to the line to burrow across.

The Roosters took the lead just after the half-hour mark when Siua Wong claimed a try off a Storm error in an aerial contest, Sam Walker's conversion pushing the hosts ahead by two and allowing them a halftime lead.

The second half started with Hughes' injury, and things went from bad to worse for the away team when Lindsay Collins scored off a Walker cross-field kick and put the visitors up by eight points.

From there it seemed as though the Roosters would be able to control the contest, particularly with Melbourne missing Jahrome Hughes - but some sloppy attention to detail and poor defence would be their undoing.

The Storm crossed for back-to-back tries over the following 10 minutes - first Grant sent King through a yawning gap close to the line in the 54th minute before Nick Meaney wrestled his way over in the 59th, and suddenly Melbourne led by four points.

The Roosters snatched back the lead with a try to Zach Dockar-Clay, who was right place-right time to collect a bat-back by Mark Nawaqanitawase. With Walker's close-range conversion the hosts led 30-28 with fifteen remaining.

They then had a chance to ice the game in the 68th minute when Tupou appeared to score his third try, but the Bunker was called on, Adam Gee sending the put-down up as a No Try. Butler in the bunker confirmed his hypothesis - Tupou had lost it attempting the put down, a moment that would prove crucial as time went on.

Melbourne had a chance to level scores when Nick Meaney took a penalty goal attempt following a high tackle on Jack Howarth, but the attempt was wide and instead the Storm forced a drop-out.

With 6 minutes remaining the visitors struck gold when Stefano Utoikamanu steamed over close to the posts and Meaney converted the prop's vital try for a four-point lead, which they held on to through to the final siren despite the Roosters throwing the ball around with abandon late in the contest.

While the Storm will likely welcome back both Papenhuyzen and Munster in the coming weeks, it looks like the might be missing Hughes tor the bulk of the run home. They sit second after tonight's contest, pending further results this weekend, and face lowly Parramatta next Thursday at Commbank.

The story for the Roosters though, is looking bleak. A win here would have them right in the mix for one of those two spots at the bottom of the top eight, but tonight's loss sees them trailing two-points behind the Dolphins, Sea Eagles and Sharks and giving them a mountain to climb to snare a finals berth. Their opponent next week? Manly at Brookvale on Saturday night.