The Cowboys fall just short of a boilover victory over the Storm, losing 26-20 in Townsville!

The Melbourne side were having to hang on at the end there, but had enough smarts to see it out.

The win puts the Storm into second spot on the NRL ladder, but it was far from convincing – albeit with several players out.

Tries to Eliesa Katoa, Nelson Asofa-Solomona and a Nick Meaney second-half double — plus Meaney’s five goals, were enough.

The Cowboys pushed hard, with Robert Derby and Jaxon Purdue ensuring the scores were level at half time, and Scott Drinkwater’s second-half score putting the hosts in the lead.

Jahrome Hughes kicks on the last, just a little grubber but one that he can follow in. He kicks it again and Burns has to ground it in-goal.

I’m not sure what Drinkwater was attempting there?

He gets to the line on the last, looks to kick and then does kick – but wallops it dead as Eli Katoa nails him with a tackle.

That’s sucked the life out of the crowd, who were just believing they were going to get some extra footy…

Griffin Neame makes the line break!

The Storm are too late with the drop out!

They give away a penalty dead in front.

There are Storm players going down with cramp too – not used to the midwinter Townsville heat!

They opt to kick the goal to make it a one-score game.

It’s 26-20.

A couple of set restarts, a couple of powerful runs towards the Storm line.

But then an early kick is batted dead for a goal line drop out.

Josh King whacks Jaxon Purdue across the chops with a high shot and the Cowboys will have a chance here inside the Storm half.

The Cowboys sub went down in back play as the Cowboys attacked and is now behind guided off the field of play.

Great ball movement from the Cowboys ends up with a good tackle on the edge by Joe Chan.

It was Braidon Burns who was tackled very close to the sideline but he’s actually knocked the ball on.

That’s great hands from the Storm, moving the ball to the left side with quick sets of hands.

Nick Meaney crashes over in the corner to give the Storm a bit of breathing space.

The kick from 18 metres in is good from Meaney, adding a fifth goal to his two tries.

The Cowboys have not got a challenge left and they are going to regret burning it after Robert Derby is called for knocking on.

It was a great set for the Storm, who made brilliant metres with quick play the balls and hard runs.

The kick was a towering bomb and Derby bobbled it enough to convince the referee he saw a knock on.

I’m not convinced there was one.

Coen Hess is blowing up deluxe after he clearly catches Bronson Garlick high.

The referee didn’t spot it first time, only after Garlick stayed down for a while did the Bunker get involved.

Meany is going to kick for the posts here.

And the Storm has the lead 20-18.

The Storm lose the ball in the tackle off the first play after the penalty but there was clearly a strip there – and it is shown as such after the Storm make the quick decision to challenge.

Thomas Duffy just over-cooks a kick on the fifth and the Storm have the ball in Cowboys territory.

Kaiden Lahrs is guilty of stripping the ball with more than one in the tackle.

The Storm have weathered some intense Cowboys pressure in this second half – perhaps the Storm will have their time now…

Great work from Nick Meaney!

He runs into the Cowboys line, takes a step to get past one defender, and then puts a lovely move on Scott Drinkwater to crash over.

The kick by Meaney is good and the score is level again, this time at 18-18.

Oh that’s a nightmare for the Cowboys!

Errors are catching… or not, as the case may be.

Kaiden Lahrs just drops the ball cold on the crash ball.

Oh my word.

Bronson Garlick was not even looking as Siulagi
Tuimalatu-Brown got his hands free and offloaded.

It hit his hand and the Cowboys have a scrum deep in Storm territory.