The Melbourne Storm have defeated the New Zealand Warriors 38-24 at Go Media Stadium, extending their winning streak over the Auckland side to 16 games.
After 20 minutes of this match it
appeared as if it would be one of the easiest victories of Andrew Webster’s tenure, after his side led 14-nil after 18 minutes.
A first set penalty and a string of cheap set restarts from the Storm allowed the Warriors to entrench themselves deep inside Melbourne’s 20.
Adam Pompey crashed over after four minutes and before a wonderful flick pass from Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad somehow found Marcelo Montoya for his first of the night.
After 15 minutes, the home side had 82% of the ball and had been tackled 19 times in the Storm’s 20. By comparison, at that stage Melbourne completed just three teams and had made four times as many tackles.
However, once the Storm organised themselves, minimised their errors and brought their discipline into line, the momentum was all in their favour.
Jahrome Hughes imprinted himself on the clash increasingly throughout the first half, and ended the opening 40 minutes having assisted three of his side’s four tries.
Fox League’s Corey Parker applauded the Storm No.7 on commentary, stating Hughes is “single-handedly picking apart the defensive line of the Warriors.”
In the second half, it was much of the same. New Zealand started strong, with their intensity both with the ball and in defence on show during the opening minutes.
On the 45th minute, Mitch Barnett dragged three defenders over the line to score and bring the Warriors within touching distance of victory.
It looked as if the contest was firmly in the balance until Warriors wingers Marcelo Montoya and Dallin Watene-Zelezniak were sin binned in quick succession, leading Andrew Webster’s side to defend with 11 men for a few minutes.
