The Melbourne Storm put on a splendid game of rugby as they came from behind to beat defending champion, the Penrith Panthers, 22-18 in the opening match of round 24 of the NRL last night.
Isaiah Papali'i crossed over the tryline for the Panthers after 10 minutes of the first half to put the defending champions ahead 4-0.
The Storm responded through Xavier Coates to put the game to a 4-all draw.
With a few minutes left to halftime, captain Nathan Cleary crossed over the tryline for the Panthers, and he also converted a penalty to put the Penrith side to a 12-4 lead at the break.
The Storm came back firing in the second half with Coates scoring his second in the 52nd minute and Joe Chan in the 57th minute, giving the Melbourne side a 14-12 lead.
The Panthers responded through Scott Sorensen, but the Storm did not give up as Marion Seve crossed over the tryline to put the match at 18-all with 10 minutes left on the clock.
A piece of magic from Storm’s Hooker Harry Grant as he gets into dummy half and fakes to throw the ball to Cameron Munster, but dummies and goes himself and sprints 10 metres to score the winner.
The Panthers remain in fourth spot for the time being, but will drop out of the four should the Warriors beat the Dragons tonight.
