- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The Melbourne Storm have used a late push to record a 21-14 victory over the New Zealand Warriors.
REPORT: STORM BEAT WARRIORS TO GO 3-0
The Warriors took the lead with 20 minutes to play via a Jonathan Wright try, but the Storm settled well and used a Cooper Cronk field goal to seal the victory. Marika Koroibete scored a try in the final minute to put the result to bed.
The Storm started extremely well, scoring a try through Kenny Bromwich to jump out to a six-point lead. The Warriors hit back however, as Lolohea scored in the corner to bring the home side back into the game.
Cameron Munster then scored an easy try for the Storm to take a 12-4 lead into the half time break.
New Zealand didn’t start the second half well, but they dominated after the 45th minute, and scored back-to-back tries through Kata and Wright to take the 14-12 lead.
The Warriors gave away a penalty to allow the Storm to tie the game, and then Cooper Cronk nailed a Field Goal in the 76th minute to take home the points.
The Warriors were much better in this match, but they still need to work on their composure in big moments. They had all the momentum when they took the lead, and probably should have gone on with the job.
The Storm go to the top of the table with the victory, pending the Rabbitohs vs. Dragons game at the SCG.
Final score
Warriors 14
Storm 21
The New Zealand Warriors are yet to live up to the pre-season hype, but perhaps some home cooking will help when the Melbourne Storm cross the Tasman for a Sunday afternoon showdown. Join The Roar for Live Scores and Commentary from 2:00pm AEDT.
The Warriors off-season has been covered many times on this website, but the expectations haven’t exactly panned out thus far. Both Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Issac Luke have been underwhelming in back-to-back losses to the Tigers and the Broncos.
Although they were much-improved in the latter game against Brisbane, the lack of any kind of offensive punch in the second half is potentially concerning for coach Andrew McFadden. They’ll need their offence to be clicking against a very well-drilled Melbourne defensive line.
The Storm have started the season as you’d expect: two wins from two starts. After escaping with a win against the Dragons in Round 1, they put the Titans to the sword in Round 2 to set themselves up very nicely for 2016.
However, this match-up does represent the first time that the Storm will have played outside of Melbourne this season, and the added international travel could become a problem. With the news that Billy Slater will miss the season after another bout of shoulder surgery, the Storm could be forgiven for losing some focus for this clash.
Sam Lisone and Raymond Faitala-Mariner will both miss this match for the Warriors, with Albert Vete and cult hero Charlie Gubb set to come into the side. While Manu Vatuvei (ribs) and Blake Ayshford (concussion) have both been named, Vatuvei in particular is expected to miss, with Konrad Hurrell or Jonathan Wright the likely replacement.
The Storm have named the same 1-17 as last weekend, with Cameron Munster once again set to feature as their fullback for the season. Curtis Scott impressed in his first NRL game, and he gets another shot in the No.4 jersey.
Prediction
The Warriors have always loved playing in front of their home fans, and they should get a massive boost this weekend. The results can’t be too far away for such a talented side, but I’m going to go with the more established team in a slight upset.
Storm by 2
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.