Storm’s star shines in Munster’s absence as reckless knights pay the price: What we learned
A clinical Melbourne Storm side defeated the Newcastle Knights 28-10 in sweltering weather at Churchill Park in Fiji.
The Storm quickly got their name on the scoreboard with Elise Katoa scoring her first try in the 11th minute, taking advantage of the time when both teams traded early penalties. Melbourne doubled their lead seven minutes later when Queensland forward Xavier Coates benefited from a deft lay-up from the left.
Enali Tuala saved the Knights from a comeback in the 26th minute, but five minutes later Jonah Pesset smashed through Newcastle’s last line to restore the Storm’s lead. The Storm led in the first half, but the Knights made things interesting by scoring on the final play of the first half when Bradman Best caught a short pass from Kalyn Ponga.
However, just four minutes after the break, the Young Tonume pair crossed, allowing the Storm to get out of the blocks and start the second half. Harry Grant added his name to the list of scorers in the 61st minute, crossing the goal line straight from an empty position on the pitch.
There was a rather comical moment in the 66th minute when Jacob Saifiti kicked Melbourne’s Tui Kamikamika late and a brief scuffle broke out between both teams. However, when the referee tried to punish the Knights, Daniel Saifiti approached the referee as Jacob quickly ran away trying to confuse the twins.
The referee saw through the Knights’ ruse and called Jacob off the bench, censuring him and sending him to the trash can. “Oh, wait, it’s the old switch,” Fox League’s Andrew Boss pointed out.
“Brothers, oh so clever, Newcastle. I stand up and applaud.
“It’s a wonderful piece of work. There’s a brilliant piece of rugby league here. »
Clinical Storm is not powerful
It was as clinical a performance as you could expect from the Storm.
They completed 17 of 20 sets in the first half, scoring 18 points when they could have and probably should have scored a few more. Admittedly, the completion rate dropped in the second half, but that could be attributed to fatigue, the heat, and the fact that some edge players earned playing time.
But once the Storm’s best players took the field, they made few mistakes and punished the Knights as much as possible. Defense problems for defenseless knights
There were mistakes on both occasions, especially as the game progressed, but there was no excuse for Newcastle’s poor defensive performance.
Adam O’Brien’s side missed 24 tackles, nine more than Melbourne, and also missed seven breaks. O’Brien also didn’t like the fact that Harry Grant scored an easy try straight from the middle of the desert.
The classification of three Knights players and the exclusion of guilty player Jacob Saifiti also raised concerns during the tournament. Half of the Storm shines in Munster’s absence
Melbourne shared half of the duo of John Pezzetta and Jarrom Hughes and they calmly ran the show.
Hughes had two assists and Peze scored a brilliant try with a dummy shot past Adam Elliott and a four-pointer past Kalyn Ponga. Their kicking game was also on point, with Fiji’s high-flying bombs constantly nailing the Knights.
Hughes and Pesset were responsible for four of the Storm’s seven breaks on the line in 80 minutes, with Hughes playing in three of them. Cameron Munster and Hughes are the obvious first-half duo, but Pesce has shown the Storm he could be a capable replacement if the Queensland star misses the regular season. .
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