The Melbourne Storm have recorded a 30-22 victory tonight over the New Zealand Warriors in front of a packed crowd of 23,469 at AAMI Park to finish a superb ANZAC Round.
The victory brings Melbourne's winning streak over New Zealand to a whopping 14 straight games. The Warriors looked in control of the game for the majority of the first half, but in the end it was injuries to key men Jazz Tevaga, Tohu Harris, Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, and Bayley Sironen which saw them run out of steam in the dying stages.
Melbourne looked very timid in the opening stages, and the away side took advantage early on. Off the back of a penalty and subsequent six again call, the Warriors utilised the first attacking set of the game, with Jackson Ford breaking through a very passive defensive line to open the points in the 5th minute. The Shaun Johnson conversion took the scoreline to 6-0.
An error in the set after points from the Warriors invited Melbourne to hit back, and Reimis Smith very nearly did that for his side, but the bunker ruled a knock on with the tryline beckoning. The Warriors slid straight back into their strong starting form, with Shaun Johnson taking his side downfield and winning a dropout. In just the following set, the Warriors extended their lead through DWZ on the right edge, with the scoreline now reading 12-0 in just the 13th minute.
But all it took was one play from Cameron Munster to get his team to hit back. A sublime 40/20 won the Storm some much needed field position and possession, and only a few plays later saw Justin Olam crash over for Melbourne's first points of the night in the 16th minute. But the game continued at its ripper pace, so it only took another five minutes before the Warriors were back over the white stripe through an easy Addin Fonua-Blake crash play through the middle.
At 18-6 in just the 22nd minute, the game finally settled down a little. With the half-time siren begging, things began to fall in Melbourne's favour. Cameron Munster finally cracked the resilient New Zealand defensive line in the 36th minute to close the gap, and just a few minutes later Dylan Walker was sent to the sin bin for a head slam, meaning Melbourne now had an extra player to work with. On top of that, Tohu Harris was confirmed to be out for the game through injury.
Despite trailing 18-12 to start the second half, Melbourne certainly had the momentum. But not for long. Some magic from the Warriors somehow sent DWZ over for his second of the night on the right edge in the 45th minute, despite them still being down to 12 players. Just a few minutes later, Melbourne found a try of their own thanks to a perfect Xavier Coates kick infield to Nick Meaney chasing through.
With the Warriors holding a four point lead, and half an hour still on the clock, the game entered a more conservative stage which would last until the full time siren. Nick Meaney scored his second try of the night in the 58th minute in controversial fashion, and then converted his own try to give Melbourne a 24-22 lead.
New Zealand failed to add any more points to their total as their players dropped like flies all around them. Melbourne were able to ice the cake in the 77th minute through some crafty work out of dummy half from Harry Grant, bringing the final full time score to 30-22 Storm's way.
Melbourne will be treated to the bye next week, while the Warriors will have to lick their wounds before facing off against the Sydney Roosters in Auckland on Sunday. They'll be sweating over the availability of a number of players who went down injured in tonight's game