NRL round 26: Storm embarrass Knights
The Melbourne Storm ran their way to a convincing win over the Newcastle Knights at home in AAMI Park over the weekend.
The Storm cruised to victory over the Knights in Melbourne on Sunday. The Storm proved to be the better team as they controlled the game from start to finish. The Melbourne side was able to take an impressive 12-point lead into half-time and built on it in the second stanza, scoring a total of six tries on their way to a 34-4 win.
Recap
The Storm wasted no time out of the gate as Greg Inglis barged his way over the try-line in the seventh minute and Cameron Smith hit the conversion to give the home side an early 6-0 lead.
The Melbourne side kept the pressure on early with Ryan Hinchcliffe getting across the whitewash only three minutes later. Smith kicked his second conversion of the day and the Storm took a 12-0 lead.
Both sides then got locked down in defensive rugby as neither could break through for another score in the half, leaving the Storm to take a 12-0 lead into the break.
After half time the Knights looked to get back into the contest with a try courtesy of Zeb Taia in the 46th minute. However, the conversion was missed and they had to settle for a 12-4 score line.
Ryan Hoffman wasted little time countering for the Storm, as he was able to push his way over the line in the 52nd minute and after a third Smith conversion the lead was pushed out to 18-4.
The rest of the match belonged to the Storm who would register another three tries before time ran out. Brett White darted over the line in the 69th minute, Aiden Tolman managed his way to four points in the 73rd minute, and Inglis picked up his second on the day in the 77th minute. Smith hit one more conversion while Jeff Lima notched the final two-pointer to complete an easy Storm win.
Analysis
The Storm not being able to collect points this season ultimately kept them out of a play-off spot. With 14 wins and a point differential of plus-126 the Melbourne side would have finished in fifth spot, which makes them an exciting team to watch for next season.
Although the Knights made a strong push at the end of the season the loss eliminated the team from post-season contention. Nevertheless, Newcastle’s strong form in the final third of the campaign should give them hope heading into next year.
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