Darren Walton and Melissa Woods
Melbourne have slumped to a historic low under coach Craig Bellamy, suffering an embarrassing 48-6 loss to a hoodoo-busting South Sydney in their Anzac Day clash.
The Rabbitohs celebrated their first win in Melbourne, taking 28 years and 21 matches to break the streak, and they did it in style.
The thumping result was the Storm’s sixth-straight loss this season, which they last registered back in 2002 under Mark Murray, before Bellamy took over a year later.
It was their worst result at AAMI Park and their biggest anywhere since 2003.
With just two wins for the season, Melbourne are now in danger of missing the finals for the first time under Bellamy and their task could be even greater with superstar halfback Jahrome Hughes forced off with an apparent arm injury.
Souths were almost unstoppable in the first half, surging to a 24-0 lead with Alex Johnston bagging a double among his side’s five tries.
Backing up from his own haul of four tries last round, Latrell Mitchell had a hand in both, batting on a ball to his winger for the visitors to open the scoring in the eighth minute.
Melbourne’s first-half statistics were horror viewing for the large crowd, only completing 12 of 19 sets while they made zero line-breaks compared to Souths’ eight.
They also made seven errors with mistakes by Sua Faalogo and Nick Meaney both handing over possession for the Rabbitohs to score.
Bellamy gave the team a huge halftime spray before striding out of the change room to leave the senior players and assistant coaches to find a way out of the funk.
The Storm looked they’d finally made it onto the scoreboard seven minutes into the second half, but the bunker ruled Trent Loiero had promoted the ball as he attempted to ground it over the line.
Keaon Koloamatangi and Sean Keppie also deserved credit for their desperate defence.
Tallis Duncan rubbed salt into Melbourne wounds, spraying Cameron Munster after pushing off both the Storm five-eighth and Jack Howarth as he scored his second of three tries.
Campbell Graham also grabbed a double, the winger diving across for his team’s eighth try in the 66th minute.
Faalogo broke the hosts’ duck three minutes later in surprising fashion when he scooped his own short kick-off to split the defence to score a brilliant individual try.
It was Melbourne’s first line-break of the night, but the visitors still had the final say with Duncan’s third four-pointer.
The only blight on the Rabbitohs’ night was the loss of Brandon Smith, with the burly forward re-injuring his problematic calf.
Warriors deny Dolphins to move back into top two
The Warriors have regained their place in the NRL’s top two with a frenetic 20-18 victory over the Dolphins in a brutal Anzac Day clash in Wellington.
Starved of possession and territory, the defiant Dolphins threatened to defy the odds in a rare, low-scoring second half before livewire fullback Taine Tuaupiki conjured the match winner for the Warriors on Saturday night.
Referee Liam Kennedy and Ashley Klein in the Bunker were perhaps the busiest men involved at Hnry Stadium, the two officials asked to decide on seemingly endless close calls.
In the end, the Warriors will be thankful to escape with a fourth-straight win in the New Zealand capital, having lost their first six, to climb above Wests Tigers into second spot on points difference and behind only Penrith.
But the victory came at a cost, with classy prop Mitch Barnett to miss next week’s clash with Parramatta after being helped off with a category-one concussion following a friendly-fire head clash with teammate Chanel Harris-Tavita.
Winger Dallin Watane-Zelezniak could also be in strife after being placed on report for a hip-drop tackle on Dolphins young gun Tevita Naufahu.
With 45 tries scored in the opening four games of round eight, it was no surprise the Warriors and Dolphins – traditionally two all-out attack sides anyway – produced a helter-skelter first half.
They bagged three tries apiece, with the Dolphins taking an 18-14 lead to the break courtesy of a double in three minutes to prolific-scoring winger Jamayne Isaako, who also slotted all three conversions.
Warriors winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira also posted a first-half brace, with Watane-Zelezniak crossing three times but denied twice by the video referee.
Herbie Farnworth’s clever chip-and-regather effort cancelled out Khan-Pereira’s first strike before Isaako gave the Dolphins all the momentum heading towards halftime.
After the Dolphins lost their lead in the 61st minute, Isaako missed a two-point field-goal attempt with 22 seconds left on the clock trying to force the game into golden point.
Compounding their disappointment, prop Thomas Flegler was placed on report for illegally taking out Ali Leiataua in the lead-up to the Warriors’ match-winning try before centre Jake Averillo suffered a sickening compound fracture of the finger.
Warriors second-rower Leka Halasima was also placed on report for a shoulder charge on Dolphins prop Tom Gilbert.
AAP
