Melbourne Storm fight night with St George Dragons

Melbourne Storm tonight overcame rain, wind and a fiery opposition to defeat the St George Illawarra Dragons 26-0 at Olympic Park in front of 9,335 brave fans.

The miserable conditions set the stage for what was predicted to be one of the best clashes of the round. The Storm and the Dragons have had a history of great matches, and with both teams battling for a top four finish, Melbourne’s winter weather was unlikely to hold anyone back.

This match was no exception with the opening half providing two tries to Melbourne, three players sent to the sin, another sent off, and a heavy rain fall all in the mix.

Travelling to Melbourne in recent times has not brought St George Illawarra much luck having lost their past five matches at ‘The Graveyard’.

The Storm opened the proceedings in spectacular fashion with Israel Folau leaping over his opponent to catch the ball, before dragging a couple of would-be tacklers across the line to score Melbourne’s first try.

Folau demonstrated why he was rated as one of league’s “greatest jumpers” by the Dragons coach Nathan Brown mid-week, with his try showing that he is an unstoppable force when in full flight.

The Storm pushed forward for their second try with Steve Turner diving over the line, however they were denied by the video referee due with the Dragon’s Jason Nightingale forcing Turner out of the field.

Tensions were high, and not long after Turner’s disallowed try the two teams’ frustrations boiled over and an all-in brawl erupted resulting in Billy Slater, Adam Blair and the Dragons’ Jamie Soward given a 10-minute spell on the sidelines to cool down.

Rather than the Dragons capitalising on their numerical advantage on field, a rogue kick from front-rower Jason Ryles at Jeff Lima in the scrum saw him being sent off the field, this time for the remainder of the game.

With Melbourne’s full compliment of players back on the field, and St George one man down, the Storm ramped up the pressure having an immediate effect.

On the stroke of half-time, Lima stormed through a number of Dragon’s defenders to put the ball over the line for Melbourne’s second try of an eventful opening half, sending his team in at the break 10-0 up.

Without dampening the Storm’s drive pushing forward, this time with Jeremy Smith breaking free from the Dragons defenders to secure Storm’s third try. Instead of celebrating the try, Smith reacted to another late tackle, catalysing yet another scuffle between the two teams.

Minutes later an offload in the tackle from Israel Folau found Sika Manu on the run.  The young backrower took off streaming down field leaving several Dragons in his wake, timing an immaculate pass off to Turner out wide.

The Storm were unstoppable, following another Dragons error Melbourne took advantage to see a penalty awarded cementing Matt Geyer’s customary try for the evening.

STORM 26 (Tries: J Smith, Lima, Geyer, Turner, Folau; Goals: C Smith 3) def. DRAGONS 0 at Olympic Park