Titans take Storm to the wire in Cbus thriller

The loss of star fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen to an ankle injury took the gloss of Melbourne's 22-20 victory over the Titans at Cbus Super Stadium.

Papenhuyzen left the field late in the first half with his team ahead 20-12 and from there they hung on to deny a brave Titans outfit who came within an ace of a second upset in as many weeks.

The Storm were first to cross the line in the eighth minute but had the try ruled out due to an obstruction before the Titans missed their chance to open the scoring with Brian Kelly missing an easy penalty shot.

Midway through the half the home side hit the lead when veteran playmaker Kieran Foran went through the heart of the Storm defence from close range and Kelly converted for a 6-0 lead.

Storm milestone man Camerom Munster came up with a try in his 200th game after skilful lead-up work by Shawn Blore and Ryan Papenhuyzen in the 21st minute before Will Warbrick crossed for his fourth try of the season four minutes later.

Papenhuyzen made it three tries in six minutes when the Storm launched a raid from halfway and Blore delivered a quality offload to Reimis Smith who gave his fullback a clear run to the line.

With six minutes left in the half the Storm raced to a 20-6 lead when Sua Fa'alogo produced some dazzling speed and footwork to score in his first game of the season

Winger Phil Sami got one back for the Titans in the shadows of half-time when he slammed the ball in the right hand corner and the bunker ruled he had retained control of the ball.

A huge blow for the Storm just before the break when Papenhuyzen got his leg caught in an awkward position as he tried to make a tackle and was forced off.

The Titans came out all guns blazing in the second half with Sami and Sam Verrills making big metres before David Fifita came up with a trademark run but a grubber for the corner by AJ Brimson rolled into touch and the Storm survived.

Come the 48th minute and Brimson had his moment when he came back against the grain and busted through two tacklers to get the Titans back to 20-18.

When Josh King was pinged for an escort in the 54th minute the home side squared things up at 20-20 through a penalty goal to Kelly.

The Titans continued to surge and Brimson sliced through in the 58th minute but the try was ruled out due to obstruction by Beau Fermor on Munster.

A penalty against Fifita for ruck interference with 15 minutes to play gave Nick Meaney an easy shot to put the Storm in front but he hit the upright and the see-sawing contest stayed level.

Three minutes later Meaney had another shot after a high tackle by Kelly and he landed the shot for Melbourne to edge ahead 22-20.

A lost ball by Warbrick coming out of his own end with five minutes to play put Melbourne under immense pressure but a desperate last-ditch tackle by Joe Chan to deny Sami ensured the visitors clung to their lead.

A contentious stripping call against the Titans gave the Storm the chance to wind the clock down and they hung on for their seventh win of the season.