IT WAS hard to know who was happier with their four pointer against the Sharks – the Rabbitoh not accustomed to scoring tries or the Rabbitoh not accustomed to not scoring tries.

Both Roy Asotasi and Nathan Merritt broke their respective ducks in the win over the Sharks on Sunday. Asotasi scored his first try in the red and green colours while Merritt scored for the first time since round seven, that’s 57 days – almost an eternity for the NRL’s leading tryscorer in 2006.

The nature in which the tries were scored always told us something about the nature of those involved.

When Asotasi was put in a gaping hole by a Jeremy Smith pass with the tryline beckoning he stopped for a split second, admitting later he was shocked to be in the clear. In contrast Merritt didn’t hesitate, not even for a split second, when he could sniff a try. A Ben Rogers grubber on the first tackle looked a dubious option until Merritt came from the clouds to pounce as the dead ball line beckoned. It was his eighth try of the year.

After he has scored seven tries in the first seven rounds Merritt said he had started to wonder what was going wrong.

“You try not to think about it but I didn’t start to worry a little bit about it,” he said.

“It’s my job to score the tries and I wasn’t doing that. It’s been hard the last few weeks because I have been waiting for the game to open up and that just hasn’t happened. When Ben put that kick through I just knew I could get there and it was good to get another try. It has been a while and I love that feeling, but there was a bit of relief there as well. Hopefully there are some more coming my way.”

There was little Asotasi didn’t do in the game and there has probably never been a more deserved try. He played the full 80 minutes, made 33 tackles, 19 runs for 213m and made two line breaks.

But the try will be what he remembers most.

“I was shocked at the gap that just opened up,” he said.

“We have been talking with Jez (Jeremy Smith) and Benny (Rogers) about setting some more tries up for the forwards and they did that today. It was good to score my first try for the Rabbitohs but you never score enough as a front-rower."

Asotasi’s fellow co-captain Peter Cusack can attest to that. Cusack could not have gone closer than he did on Sunday, his nose touching the whitewash as he was brought down. The tough front rower has scored seven tries 157 games and after hearing Asotasi talk about his try and flash his pearly whites in the press conference all Cusack could offer, was “mine wasn’t meant to be".