Knights outclass Storm

The Newcastle Knights have outclassed the Melbourne Storm by 37-16 at Energy Australia Stadium today.

Andrew Johns suffered a heavy knock in the first half but recovered to lead his side to a convincing victory.

The Storm came out in the first half and again in the second half playing confident footy and looked a chance but they were unable to keep up with a classier Knights outfit. The Storm lost their new captain, Rodney Howe after just five minutes when he had a head clash with Knights centre, Matthew Gidley (picture right). Howe was stretchered off and took no further part.

Matt Parsons, in his last year for the Knights, was magnificent in the first half with 15 tackles and nine hitups. Richard Swain was a standout for the Storm with 20 tackles.

At half time the Knights led 10-4 and with two tries to nil on the scoreboard, they looked the better team. But the Storm came out the second half scoring twice and grabbed a 16-10 lead.

The class of Johns, however, came through and he set up numerous movements, often switching plays in consecutive rucks.

The Knights dominated the rest of the match and Johns rubbed salt into the wounds when, following a Storm kickoff going out on full, he kicked a penalty goal from halfway in style.

Knights 37 - Storm 16 Energy Australia Stadium Referee: M Oaten Knights 37 (Tries: Newton 2, Quinn, Tahu, O'Davis, K Gidley. Goals: Johns 6/7. Field goals: Johns 1) defeated Storm 16 (Tries: Ross, Moule. Goals: Orford 4/4)

Top three players: 3 points: Johns (Knights) 2 points: Parsons (Knights) 1 point: Swain (Storm)