Melbourne Storm NZ Warriors NRL Round 20
WHO: Melbourne Storm v New Zealand Warriors
WHAT: Round 20 of the 2008 Telstra Premiership season
WHERE: Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland
WHEN: Sunday, July 26th @ 2.00pm (NZST)
ON TV: Fox Sports 2 LIVE – 12.00pm (AEST)
CHECK IT OUT: Melbourne Storm’s website with all the latest stats, profiles, updates, schedule and training times, alerts, news etc…. www.melbournestorm.com.au
IN BRIEF
Melbourne proved too strong for the Dragons on Monday night, keeping the visitors scoreless on their way to a 26-0 victory. The win kept the Storm in second spot on the NRL ladder.
New Zealand won their third game in a row, this time downing the Bulldogs 40-22 at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The win leaves the Warriors one point outside the top eight in ninth position.
FAST FACTS
• New Zealand has scored the first try in their past four games
• Melbourne has won five of their last six games against New Zealand
• New Zealand hasn’t won four games straight since Rounds 22-25, 2006
DID YOU KNOW?
While he may be the king of taking the big grabs in the NRL, centre Israel Folau is actually afraid of heights!
KEY MATCH UP
An interesting side-story to the clash will be the fact Stephen Kearney, Storm’s assistant coach and New Zealand head coach, will be able to run the rule over many of his national team players leading into the end-of-year World Cup. There will be a few personal duels between Kiwis from both sides, but none more potentially explosive than in the front-row between Jeff Lima and Wiki.
Lima is part the new guard of front-rowers in the Kiwi national set-up, and his performances for Melbourne over the past 18 months have been astounding. Lima arrived at the club two-and-a-half years ago after a stint in French rugby league overweight and far from becoming a regular first-grade Storm player. Fast forward to the current day, and Lima has not only forced his way into the Storm squad, he is now one of the first names on coach Craig Bellamy’s team sheets. His fitness levels are as good as anyone at the club let alone the forwards, and he can be relied upon to do the tough stuff required of a front-rower each and every week.
While Wiki could be regarded as part of the old guard of Kiwi front-rower, he is still the benchmark by which all other New Zealand front-rowers measure themselves. He’s an inspiration to all Kiwi players who pull on their national jersey and they look up to him as their leader. He doesn’t seem to be slowing down with age, and his front-row partnership with Price, another aging warhorse who doesn’t seem to be slowing down either, is as fierce and uncompromising as any in the NRL.
If Lima can take the points in this head-to-head battle, he may just secure his World Cup spot in the Kiwis line-up come season’s end.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
Total: Played: 20, Storm: 11, Warriors: 8, Draw: 1
At Mt Smart Stadium: Played: 10, Storm: 5, Warriors: 5
FOR AND AGAINST 2008
Points for: Storm: 390, Warriors: 368
Points against: Storm: 227, Warriors: 467
Tries for: Storm: 69, Warriors: 65
Points differential: Storm: +163, Warriors: -99
LAST ROUND MATCHES
Storm def. Dragons 26-0 @ Olympic Park, Melbourne
Warriors def. Bulldogs 40-22 @ ANZ Stadium, Sydney
LAST EIGHT CLASHES
| YEAR | RESULT | VENUE |
| 2008 | Storm def. Warriors 32-18 @ | Telstra Dome |
| 2007 | Storm def. Warriors 4-2 @ | Mt Smart Stadium |
| 2007 | Storm def. Warriors 30-12 @ | Olympic Park |
| 2006 | Warriors def. Storm 24-20 @ | Olympic Park |
| 2006 | Storm def. Warriors 24-16 @ | Mt Smart Stadium |
| 2005 | Storm def. Warriors 22-10 @ | Olympic Park |
| 2005 | Warriors def. Storm 24-16 @ | Mt Smart Stadium |
| 2004 | Storm def. Warriors 42-6 @ | Olympic Park |
THE STORM STORY SO FAR
WORLD CLUB CHALLENGE: STORM 4 (Try: Hoffman) def. by RHINOS 11 (Try: Donald; Goals: Sinfield 3; Field Goal: Sinfield) at Elland Road, Leeds
ROUND 1: STORM 32 (Tries: Slater 3, Johnson, Tagataese; Goals: C. Smith 5, Turner) def. WARRIORS 18 (Tries: Vatuvei 2, Ropati; Goals: Witt 3) at Telstra Dome, Melbourne
ROUND 2: STORM 16 (Tries: Aitken, White, Falou; Goals: C. Smith 2) def. by SHARKS 17 (Tries: Kearney, Gallen, Simmons; Goals: Covell 2; Field Goals: Kimmorley) at Olympic Park, Melbourne
ROUND 3: Storm (Try: Slater; Goal: C. Smith) def. by ROOSTERS (Try: Kenny-Dowell; Goals: FitzGibbon 3) at Sydney Football Stadium
ROUND 4: STORM 28 (Tries: Quinn 3, Folau, Hoffman; Goals: Smith 4) def. BRONCOS 8 (Tries: Robinson, Stagg) at Olympic Park, Melbourne
ROUND 5: STORM 26 (Tries: Slater 2, Inglis, Quinn, Hoffman; Goals: Smith 3) def. SEA EAGLES 4 (Try: Barney) at Olympic Park
ROUND 6: STORM 23 (Tries: Chambers, Turner, Slater, Folau; Goals: C. Smith 3; Field Goal: Cronk) def. RAIDERS 16 (Tries: Best, Plum, Purtell; Goals: Carney 2) at Canberra Stadium
ROUND 7: STORM 12 (Tries: Inglis, Folau; Goals: C. Smith 2) def. COWBOYS 10 (Tries: Williams 2; Goals: Thurston) at Dairy Farmer’s Stadium
ROUND 8: BYE
ROUND 9: STORM 18 (Tries: Folau 2, Quinn; Goals: C. Smith 3) def. KNIGHTS 4 (Try: Mullen) at Olympic Park, Melbourne
ROUND 10: STORM 12 (Tries: Chambers, Manu; Goals: Smith, Turner) def. by DRAGONS 36 (Tries: Nightingale 2, B. Morris, J Morris, Lett, Soward; Goals: Soward 6) at ANZ Stadium
ROUND 11: STORM 15 (Tries: Chambers, J. Smith; Goals: C. Smith 2, Field Goals: Cronk) def. RABBITOHS 12 (Tries: Vagana 2; Goals: Luke) at Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
ROUND 12: STORM 46 (Tries: Geyer 2, C. Smith, Folau, Turner, J. Smith, Crocker, Cronk; Goals: C. Smith 7) def. BULLDOGS 0 at Olympic Park
ROUND 13: STORM 0 def. by TITANS 18 (Tries: Delaney, Meyers, Jeffrey; Goals: Rogers 3) at Skilled Park
ROUND 14: BYE
ROUND 15: STORM 48 (Tries: Inglis 3, Turner 2, J Smith, Slater, Geyer, Folau; Goals: C Smith 6) def. COWBOYS 20 (Tries: Henry, Williams, Webb, Cashmere; Goals: Thurston 2) at Olympic Park
ROUND 16: STORM 22 (Tries: Manu 2, Tomane, Cronk; Goals: Turner 2, Cronk) def. by EELS 24 (Tries: Tautai, Williams, Reddy, Inu; Goals: Burt 4) at Parramatta Stadium
ROUND 17: STORM 30 (Tries: Inglis 2, Slater, Manu, Quinn, Turner; Goals: Smith 3) def. RAIDERS 14 (Tries: Monaghan, Carney, Chalk; Goals: Carney) at Olympic Park
ROUND 18: STORM 30 (Tries: Inglis 3, Slater, Manu; Goals: C. Smith 5) def. TIGERS 18 (Tries: Tuiaki, Hodgson, Ryan; Goals: Hodgson 3) at Campbelltown Sports Stadium
ROUND 19: STORM 26 (Tries: J Smith, Lima, Geyer, Turner, Folau; Goals: C Smith 3) def. DRAGONS 0 at Olympic Park
2008 TRY SCORERS (STORM)
Slater 10, Inglis 10, Folau 9, Quinn 6, Turner 6, Manu 5, J. Smith 4, Geyer 4, Chambers 3, Hoffman 2, Cronk 2, Johnson, Tagataese, Aitken, White, C. Smith, Crocker, Tomane, Lima
2008 GOAL SCORERS (STORM)
C. Smith 50, Turner 4, J. Smith, Cronk
2008 FIELD GOAL SCORERS (STORM)
Cronk 2
2008 POINTSCORERS (STORM)
C Smith 104, Slater 40, Inglis 40, Folau 36, Quinn 24, Turner 24, Manu 20, J. Smith 18, Geyer 16, Chambers 12, Cronk 12, Hoffman 8, Johnson 4, Tagataese 4, Aitken 4, White 4, Crocker 4, Tomane 4, Lima 4
MELBOURNE STORM MEDIBANK PRIVATE INJURY UPDATE
Sam Tagataese (shoulder): 1 week
Danny Vaughan (knee): season
Ben MacDougall (knee): season
Dane Nielsen (shoulder): season
Will Chambers (knee): season
THE STORM AHEAD
Round 21: Friday, August 1st v Titans @ Olympic Park, 7.45pm
Round 22: Friday, August 8th v Sea Eagles @ Brookvale Oval, 7.45pm
Round 23: Friday, August 15th v Roosters @ Olympic Park, 7.35pm
TELSTRA PREMIERSHIP LADDER
| POSITION | CLUB | POINTS |
| 1 | Sea Eagles | 30 |
| 2 | Storm | 28 |
| 3 | Sharks | 28 |
| 4 | Roosters | 26 |
| 5 | Broncos | 23 |
| 6 | Dragons | 22 |
| 7 | Titans | 22 |
| 8 | Panthers | 21 |
| 9 | Raiders | 20 |
| 10 | Tigers | 20 |
| 11 | Warriors | 20 |
| 12 | Knights | 18 |
| 13 | Eels | 18 |
| 14 | Rabbitohs | 16 |
| 15 | Bulldogs | 14 |
| 16 | Cowboys | 10 |
SQUAD FOR SUNDAY'S GAME
Starting team:
1. Billy Slater
2. Steve Turner
3. Matt Geyer
4. Israel Folau
5. Anthony Quinn
6. Greg Inglis
7. Cooper Cronk
8. Jeff Lima
9. Cam Smith
10. Brett White
11. Michael Crocker
12. Ryan Hoffman
13. Dallas Johnson
Interchange:
14. Jeremy Smith, 15. Adam Blair, 16. Sika Manu, 17. Antonio Kaufusi.
Coach: Craig Bellamy.
0 comments:
Post a Comment