Both Storm Jersey Flegg and SG Ball teams were in action this weekend, travelling away to Sydney for their respective Round 1 and Round 5 clashes.
Jersey Flegg
The Penrith Panthers snatched a last-minute 28-22 victory over Storm in Round 1 of the 2023 Jersey Flegg season.
Storm pushed last season’s reigning premiers all the way in a thrilling contest at BlueBet Stadium on Saturday, jumping out to a 22-8 lead before the Panthers mounted a second-half comeback.
After absorbing plenty of pressure defending their own tryline, Storm’s defence was eventually breached after some ad-lib footy from Liam Ison set up Cody Lawson in the corner in the 7th minute.
Storm rolled up their sleeves and marched downfield before hitting back with a try of its own, Joe Chan crashing over from close range in the 13th minute.
After laying on the first try for Chan, Gabrielle Satrick quickly had his hands all over Storm’s next four-pointer, fooling the Panthers defence and putting through a deft grubber in behind the line for Matthew Hill in the 20th minute.
The Panthers then had a reply of its own just a few minutes later when a late offload caught Storm defence on the back foot and Aston Warwick burrowed over in the 23rd minute.
After a tight opening 20 minutes, Storm took control of the contest at the back end of the first half and extended their lead to 22-8 heading into the break.
Storm put on a shift down the left edge and a lovely catch and pass cut-out ball from fullback Sualauvi Faalogo found Matthew Hill who with still plenty of work to do, weaved through traffic to slam the ball down in the 27th minute.
Faalogo was in the thick of the action once again, this time on the back of a scrum in good field position, throwing a dummy and showing some great pace to burst through in the 32nd minute.
Storm would fail to replicate that attacking form in the second half and the Panthers scored twice before a late penalty goal in the 64th minute saw both teams draw level in the dying stages.
An error coming out of their own end gifted Panthers a full set attacking Storm’s line and despite Blake Moore set up for the field goal, second rower Aston Warwick sliced through on the right edge to seal the comeback for the home side.
Storm will now look to bounce back against the Sea Eagles next Saturday at AAMI Park.
SG Ball
Storm have gone down 46-26 in a high-scoring affair to North Sydney Bears in Round 5 of the SG Ball Cup competition.
After a bright start in the opening 15 minutes, Bears eventually worked their way into the contest and ultimately proved too strong.
The game couldn’t have started better for Storm after some great kick pressure resulted in a charge down that fell straight into the lap of prop Kristian Tornatore.
From the ensuing set, Storm shifted out to the right and Dickie Terepo beat his man and reached out to slam it down in the 3rd minute.
While Bears hit back with a try of their own a few minutes later, Ioane Lui doubled Storm’s lead thanks to a mammoth individual effort where he beat a number of would-be Bears defenders in the 15th minute.
It would then be all one-way traffic for the remainder of the first half, Bears scoring three straight tries to head into the sheds with a 24-10 lead.
Lightning would then strike twice for Storm, benefiting off yet another charge down with Dickie Terepo catching the Bears defence thin on the blindside from the ensuing play in the 41st minute.
While Storm would find the tryline two more times late in the second half, Bears ultimately held on for the 20-point win.
Storm will now turn attention to their Round 6 clash with the Bulldogs next Saturday.
Originally published on nrlvic.com
