Melbourne Storm’s Jersey Flegg side’s run of wins on the road has come to an end, going down 26-18 to the St George Illawarra Dragons at Ziems Park on Saturday.
While Storm started brightly with three tries inside the opening 20 minutes, a flurry of tries in quick succession before the break would ultimately swing momentum in the home side’s favour for the remainder of the contest.
Storm jumped out of the blocks in the first half, quickly finding space off the back of a scrum 10m out from the Dragons line, putting it through the hands and Siulagi Pio scoring in the corner in the 12th minute.
An error from Dragons centre Campbell Watchirs off a Stanley Huen crossfield kick would gift Storm its next points, the ball spilling straight into the path of Mitchell Jennings who shrugged away two Dragons defenders to score in the 16th minute.
Pio then nabbed his second try of the afternoon after some neat work from Ali Okusitino, with the Storm centre outleaping Dragons fullback Benjamin Rumble for the ball before offloading to Pio who strolled over untouched in the 19th minute.
Despite scoring three tries inside the opening 20 minutes, momentum would completely swing the way of the hosts for the remainder of the first half, the Dragons scoring three tries inside six minutes to leave scores all tied up at the break.
The try scoring spree kicked off with second rower Harry Rudd slicing through Storm’s right edge defence in the 24th minute before the Dragons went the length of the field from the kick off and Benjamin Rumble raced away to score.
Once again the Dragons would poke their nose through some flimsy Storm edge defence off the kick off, almost going coast to coast only for some desperation defence chopping them down 20 metres out from the Storm line.
It would provide very little respite however, Dragons once again putting it through the hands from the ensuing set and Te Umuariki Heremia-Tukere scoring in the left-hand corner in the 30th minute.
Unfortunately, the second half started much like how it ended for the visitors, Kyan Hjaltason splitting the markers and piercing through the Storm defence before linking up with Rumble who grabbed his second try for the afternoon.
The game then became quite the arm wrestle, neither side able to stamp their authority on the contest for the next 20 minutes.
Inside the final 10 minutes of play and trailing by 8 points, it would be Storm’s left edge combination of Okusitino and Pio that would rocket them back into the contest.
Setting up camp attacking the Dragons line, Storm shifted it left and Okusitino did well to attract the attention of two Dragons defenders before offloading to an unmarked Pio who completed the hattrick.
With the game suddenly back in the balance with 7 minute to go, Storm pushed hard for a late winner but would ultimately fall short with Declan Purcell icing the game for the Dragons in the 69th minute.
Storm will look to bounce back when they face the Parramatta Eels at Seabrook Reserve next Saturday.
