Dragons upset soggy Storm once more

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St George Illawarra Dragons v Melbourne Storm

St George Illawarra have caused a boilover for the second time against the Storm in two seasons, 14-8 victors at a soggy Jubilee Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Greeted by consistent, frustrating rain, both sides struggled with attack in the conditions, with the opening quarter of the match seeing the scoreboard untouched.

After a series of penalties at the 25-minute mark, Melbourne opened the scoring with a Tyran Wishart penalty goal to lead 2-0.

The home side exposed some poor right-side Melbourne defence to score the first try of the day, Valentine Holmes crossing for his maiden four-pointer in the Red V with seven minutes remaining before the break, and converting his own effort for a 4 point lead.

From there it unravelled for the Dragons, with Christian Tuipulotu knocking on the subsequent kickoff - and the Storm took full advantage a few plays later - Ryan Papenhuyzen getting on the end of a superb series of play involving multiple offloads. With Wishart's conversion, Melbourne led 8-6 and took that lead into the break.

The first twenty minutes of the second half echoed the first somewhat, with no points scored - although a Val Holmes penalty goal attempt was made at the 52 minute mark, it hit the post and gifted the ball back to the Storm.

At the 62 minute mark, Holmes got redemption with another penalty goal attempt, this time banging it over from close-range to level the scores.

A few minutes later the Storm looked to reclaim the lead when Eli Katoa plucked a Munster kick from the air, but the Bunker intervened after a short wait to chalk the try off after ruling a knock-on in the aerial contest for the ball.

With ten minutes remaining, the hosts then rode the energy of the home crowd to score the only try of the second half, Jacob Liddle scurrying over from dummy half and just grounding the ball. Holmes' conversion pushed the lead to 14-8 and try as they might, it was a scoreline the Storm could not overcome.

The Dragons will head to Parramatta next week for a clash with the lowly Eels, while Melbourne remain in Sydney to face their arch-rivals Manly at Brookvale on Sunday afternoon