Melbourne, Manly keep pace with Souths in NRL
Penrith won its third match in a row to move into seventh place.
SYDNEY (AP) - Defending champions Melbourne and perennial title aspirants Manly closed in on first-place South Sydney with weekend wins in Australia s National Rugby League.
The Storm beat the third-place Sydney Roosters 26-18 while Manly defeated Canberra 16-10.
The results left South Sydney, which has won nine of its first 10 matches, with a one-point edge over Manly, two over the Roosters and three over Manly ahead of the Rabbitohs Monday night match against Cronulla to complete the 11th round.
The Storm, winning for the first time in a month, led 12-0 after 16 minutes following tries to Justin O Neill and Maurice Blair. Edrick Lee scored a pair of tries in a losing cause for Canberra against Manly.
"We were a bit flat today, a bit jaded ... and players are looking forward to this rest," Manly coach Geoff Toovey said, referring to the Sea Eagles bye next week.
In Sunday matches, the New Zealand Warriors won for only the third time in 11 matches, beating the fifth-place Newcastle Knights 28-12. And the Gold Coast Titans defeated the Parramatta Eels 42-4 to move into sixth place.
Penrith won its third match in a row, beating St. George Illawarra 19-0 Saturday to move into seventh place. Penrith coach Ivan Cleary called it his team s best performance of the season.
"In the second half I thought they were setting the pace and we were hanging on, but somehow we found a way numerous times to keep them scoreless," Cleary said. "It s a long way away from that (finals) but we ve definitely improved so that s the whole idea of it. I think our beliefs have gone up to new levels over the last three weeks."
On Friday, Canterbury recovered from a 44-8 loss to Newcastle last weekend to beat Brisbane 24-14, with Frank Pritchard scoring the clinching try with four minutes remaining.
The Wests Tigers also waited until late to beat North Queensland when David Nofoaluma scored in the 78th minute for a 22-20 win, ending a seven-match losing streak.
