Smith the conductor as Storm grinds out a win
SULIASI Vunivalu scored two tries in three minutes to give Melbourne t their 18th-straight season-opening NRL win with a tough 18-4 victory over Manly.
But it was the class of Melb bourne’s evergreen skipper Cameron Smith that shone through on a bizarre afternoon at Lottoland.
The game was tryless for 60 minutes while ball kids wore gloves and the ball was cleaned every time it w went into the crowd.
With the coronavirus pandemic o overshadowing the game, Manly’s high performance unit ordered the extreme measures of using bleach.
But on the field, both sides put on a display that appeared to have far more at stake than a round one contest.
With each team exchanging penalty goals, the match sat at 4-2 in Manly’s favour before Vunivalu gave Melbourne the lead with two straight tries from kicks.
The first – in the 61st minute – came when Jahrome Hughes kicked perfectly for Vunivalu behind Manly winger Jorge Taufua to score.
From the next set, Melbourne were on the attack again, as Hughes kicked for Vunivalu for a second time after scooping up a loose ball following a fifth-tackle play that included three other kicks.
There appeared to be a question mark over the Storm winger getting the ball down, but the try was awarded by the bunker.
Melbourne wrapped the game up when Smith grubbered out of dummy-half for Tom Eisenhuth to dive across for his first NRL try with six minutes to play.
In the first game of his 19th season, Smith again controlled the game perfectly, forcing two line dropouts, while Tui Kamikamica ran 149 metres at prop.
Vunivalu might attract match review committee attention for raising his knees and making contact with Dylan Walker’s head in a tackle that went unpenalised.
Manly were gritty even if they couldn’t break Melbourne’s line.
Their own goal line defence was particularly impressive, as they made 15 tackles inside their own 20metre zone without breaking in the first half. Tom Trbojevic pulled off two try-savers, including one in which he rushed across and put a flying Marion Seve into touch metres from the line. Taufua laid on what will likely be the hit of the year on Marion Seve.