SYDNEY: The Melbourne Storm thrashed the New Zealand Warriors 42-0 on Monday to slot into third place on the National Rugby League ladder.
In the last match of the Anzac Day round honouring wartime Australian and New Zealand soldiers, the Storm put on an impressive attacking performance in which their eight tries were shared between seven players.
With eight games played this season, the Storm now sit behind the Brisbane Broncos and North Queensland Cowboys.
Brisbane enjoyed a convincing win over South Sydney Rabbitohs on Friday but lost hooker Andrew McCullough in the process.
McCullough is facing up to six weeks on the sidelines after injuring his hamstring in the 30-8 win, while forward Adam Blair faces a one-match ban for dangerous contact on Souths player Adam Reynolds.
Reynolds broke his jaw in round one and scans have so far been unable to confirm whether the Blair tackle broke it again.
"The x-ray does show something, but it could be an old one (injury) or a new one," Reynolds said, adding he held no grudge against Blair.
"It's rugby league. Things like that do happen."
Injuries also mounted for the Manly Sea Eagles in their 26-10 victory Monday against the Newcastle Knights, with Brett Stewart (hamstring) and his replacement Tom Trbojevic (knee) sidelined.
Sydney Roosters went down 18-20 to the St George Illawarra Dragons Monday with coach Trent Robinson unhappy with officials, saying his players were not treated with respect.
But the Cronulla Sharks posted their fifth win in a row Sunday after downing the Penrith Panthers in a 20-18 thriller. The Sharks scored only three tries to the Panthers' four, with their kicking accounting for the difference in the scoreline.
In Saturday's action the North Queensland Cowboys triumphed over the Parramatta Eels 32-16 while the Canterbury Bulldogs scored a tight win over the Gold Coast Titans.
Josh Reynolds kicked a field goal to give Canterbury a 21-20 victory four minutes into extra time, after an earlier error by him had helped the Titans score a try.
"That was a gutsy play. He would've been very lonely out there at one stage but he held it together and came up with the big play when he had to," said Bulldogs coach Des Hasler.
West Tigers players took responsibility for an embarrassing 60-6 loss to the Canberra Raiders, also on Saturday.
Comments
Comments are closed.