Roosters coach Trent Robinson says the decision to penalise Nat Butcher for a high tackle on Friday night was \u201ccompletely laughable\u201d as his side overcame a poor attacking performance to grind their way to a win over the Storm.<\/p>\n
The 14-6 result leaves them just two points behind the table-topping Panthers, but they had to survive a few nervy moments in the second half as the visitors threatened to snatch an improbable victory.<\/p>\n
Melbourne didn\u2019t look like scoring for the opening 55 minutes until they were gifted field position by referee Gerard Sutton who awarded them a penalty for a tackle by Butcher on Alec MacDonald that forced an error.<\/p>\n
Replays showed there was minimal contact and even less force, with Stefano Utoikamanu scoring for the Storm two minutes later. <\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you find that (a penalty)? Why would a referee even look at that? It was laughable. It was completely laughable,\u201d Robinson said. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to defend it, and there were some things that went our way against it, but if they have an error on that and then you\u2019re looking at that, then you\u2019re looking at the wrong thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Butcher was irate and tried to argue with the officials which prompted teammate Victor Radley to tell him to be quiet until he saw the replay. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt went up on the big screen quickly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cNat was blowing up at the time. I was thinking \u2018mate, be quiet Nat\u2019 until I saw it on the big screen. I said \u2018oh, you\u2019ve probably got a right to blow up there\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe should have defended it, which is disappointing, but it is what it is.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is reassuring (for us to win those tight games). It didn\u2019t feel great at all, but our defence just held on, which was pleasing. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think those games, it didn\u2019t feel great at the end of it at full-time there, but often those close contest games can be enjoyable. We won in the end, so happy days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robinson was visibly disappointed with their inability to convert chances into points, with the Roosters needing a late try from Daniel Tupou to seal it.<\/p>\n
But a strong defensive display in the rain can build confidence heading into the finals given those matches are generally tight affairs. <\/p>\n
\u201cI loved the defensive performance. We didn\u2019t execute well and it wasn\u2019t pretty, but I felt the energy we did have we put into defence, and I felt like we controlled the game through our defence,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a lot of live play, so the ball was in play a lot. There was a lot of kick return footy, both teams were going with high completion rates. If you want to play in decent games, you\u2019ve got to play that style, so that was really pleasing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe execution of our attack was poor. I\u2019ll take that. Just coming out of Origin, I\u2019ll take that with different guys in and out in the wet. <\/p>\n
\u201cOf course I would have liked to have had better combinations and increased that because I thought we had enough field position there to do so. But there are also some really good signs on the defensive side of the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n