Storm lose Slater and Smith but still win
THE Melbourne Storm might have lost Origin stars Cameron Smith and Billy Slater for most of the second half, but they were still able to all-but-end the Canberra Raiders’ finals hopes.
The Raiders lost 20-14 at Canberra Stadium last night and they’re set to lose veteran forward Sia Soliola after he was put on report for a high shot that led to Slater getting carried off.
Soliola was lucky to stay on the field, while the Storm will sweat on the fitness of Smith, who went off early in the second half with a pectoral injury.
The Raiders will now have to win all six of their remaining games to make the top eight.
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart opted for a smaller line-up through the middle, moving Josh Hodgson to lock and giving Kurt Baptiste the start at hooker.
They looked to move the Melbourne pack around from the get go, but the Storm were able to capitalise on their size advantage early with prop Nelson AsofaSolomona offloading to put Dale Finucane over for the opening try off the back of a penalty.
Having weathered an early storm of visitors’ possession, the Raiders levelled the score off the back of a brilliant Blake Austin run. His mazy run inside found his halves partner Aidan Sezer in support and the halfback crashed over from close range.
The Storm showed hints of a State of Origin hangover as they made several uncharacteristic errors in the first half, with both Will Chambers and Slater guilty of sloppy play-the-balls.
Melbourne five-eighth Cameron Munster was looking dangerous every time he ran the ball, but he was guilty of a knockon as the Storm made five errors in the first half.
Hodgson went into hooker when Baptiste went to the bench late in the half, but the Raiders couldn’t capitalise on the spark the England international provided out of dummy half. They still struggled with some of their fifth tackle options, but only a late penalty converted by Smith separated the sides at half-time.
While the Storm lost Smith (pectoral) early in the second half, they were still able to extend their lead when Chambers crossed in the corner off the back of a loose Dave Taylor carry.
The absence of Smith was further compounded for the Storm when Soliola’s swinging arm knocked Slater out of the game.
Soliola was put on report and Munster converted the resulting penalty.
Raiders winger Nick Cotric produced a moment of brilliance to highlight why he’s one of the favourites for the NRL rookie of the year, a great in-goal kick down the short side forced a goalline dropout that eventually led to him crossing in the corner.
But then he produced one of his rare errors in his debut season to give the ball to the Storm off the restart.
Finucane capitalised with his second try of the night – somewhat controversially with Tim Glasby potentially offside when Finucane kicked the ball in-goal.
Sezer scored his second off an Austin grubber, but they only had five seconds left from the restart to try and level the scores.
The referees left the field to a chorus of boos, with all the decisions going the Storm’s way.
Canberra travels to ANZ Stadium to face South Sydney. Canberra Times