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Nick Markham | rugbyleaguelive.com | 12/05/08 | 0
VIDEO - Origin selectors set to make big mistakes
AUDIO - Bellamy: 'We were made to work really hard'
AUDIO - Smith: 'The penalty count killed us'
Melbourne has scored a determined 18-4 win over a gallant Newcastle tonight at Olympic Park, the home side retuning to the top of the ladder in a torrid encounter that has the potential to throw the NSW State of Origin campaign into turmoil.
Newcastle's Kurt Gidley, long touted as the man to fill the crucial number seven jersey for the Blues, and prop forwards Ben Cross and Brett White all suffered injuries in a torrid match that amazingly remained scoreless until mid-way through the second stanza, before two tries to Israel Folau broke the game open for the Storm.
The scoreless but action packed first half had the supporters on the edge of their seats, but left New South Wales Origin selectors with more than a few headaches, as the match took a back seat to the injury report.
White suffered an injured collarbone, and Gidley a suspected fractured cheekbone, and Cross was concussed in the dying seconds, with Knights winger Cooper Vuna also suffering an early knee injury, though all players finished the match.
Another Blues contender, Jarrod Mullen, may also find himself in some hot water after he and Cory Paterson were placed report for a lifting tackle on Sam Tagatese in the 17th minute.
Gidley courageously soldiered on for the Knights in the face of some constant pressure from the 2007 premiers, with some tremendous scrambling defence from the Knights keeping the match scoreless, despite having minimal attacking ball.
The visitors made in excess of 30 tackles inside of their own 20 in a frantic opening half,
and almost opened the scoring against the run of play in the 38th minute, but a phenomenal cover tackle from Billy Slater saved the day for Melbourne.
Slater then almost engineered the opening try in the following set when he sent Steve Turner into space on the right hand side, but this time it was the Knights turn for some desperate cover, Cooper Vuna with a desperation tackle to put the Storm flyer over the touchline.
Melbourne were the beneficiaries of 7-1 penalty count, but the score remained nil-all at the half time break, but the game was anything but dour despite the lack of points.
The Storm continued to dominate possession in the opening exchanges of the second half, and looked to have broken the nil-all deadlock in the 47th minute when Israel Folau crossed out wide, but Jeremy Smith was penalised for an obstruction in the lead up.
But there was no denying the premiers five minutes later, a perfectly executed cross-field kick from Cooper Cronk was plucked out of the air by Folau, who still had some work to do, but forced his way over for the opening points.
Cameron Smith landed the extras from out wide to give the Storm a 6-nil lead with just under half an hour remaining.
Folau added a second from a well-worked set move in the 66th minute, with Smith's conversion making it 12-nil.
A mis-directed kick from Smith provided the Knights with an unlikely opportunity to get back into the contest, Jarrod Mullen picking up the errant grubber and racing 70 metres to score in the corner to give the Knights a glimmer of hope.
But that glimmer was only short lived, Gidley's conversion attempt was waved away leaving the score 12-4 with just six minutes of play remaining.
Newcastle's desperation led to errors in the dying stages, with the Storm adding another four-pointer through Anthony Quinn, with Smith's sideline conversion rounding out the scoring.
MELBOURNE 18 (I Folau 2 A Quinn tries C Smith 3 goals) bt NEWCASTLE 4 (J Mullen try) at Olympic Park. Crowd: 10,624. Referee: B Cummins.
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