Source : the age
Stephen Crichton puts the icing on the cake of a strong individual performance, shaping to pass then running himself, running between Josh King and Oryn Keeley to score Canterbury’s final try of the night.
The Bulldogs have earned a surprisingly hard-fought win in Melbourne, and will move into eighth place on the ladder. One positive is their attack, with their 36 points their highest score of the season so far.
For Melbourne, the result effectively kills off any remote chance of a late surge into playoff contention. It’s only the second time a Craig Bellamy-coached Storm side will miss the finals, and the other was due to salary cap breach punishments. But injuries have been their undoing this season, and this side tonight did very well to compete as long as they did without Harry Grant, Cameron Munster and Jahrome Hughes available.
Bulldogs 36, Storm 22 at full-time
A big Jethro Rinakama line break down the left puts the Bulldogs into attacking position, and Lachie Galvin launches a well-placed bomb towards Moses Leo. The Storm winger takes it under no pressure, but then Bulldogs defenders Jacob Preston and Jaeman Salmon swarm and Leo struggles to get out of his in-goal. He plants the ball down in the field of play – line scoring a try – and loses his grip on the ball while being tackled. It’s a knock on.
And the Bulldogs finally score the try that should give them the win, sending the ball left for Viliame Kikau to draw three defenders then offload to an unmarked Stephen Crichton.
Crichton kicks the conversion, and finally a team has more than a six-point lead in this topsy turvey contest.
Bulldogs 32, Storm 22 with nine minutes left
The Bulldogs attack again, but Stephen Crichton’s last-tackle kick is plucked from the air nicely by Storm debutant Hayden Watson. Crichton tackles the 19-year-old, then drags him towards the Storm goal-line and gives him an extra shove. Sua Fa’alogo isn’t thrilled with that and gives Crichton a shove, and the referee blows a penalty against Crichton for the second effort.
The Storm go upfield with the penalty, and end their set with a sharp kick into the in-goal from Watson, and the Melbourne defence traps Jacob Kiraz in-goal to force a dropout.
It looks like Melbourne are going to score on the next set when Fa’alogo puts Nick Meaney through a gap, but when Meaney draws the final defender and whips an offload backwards it goes straight to Matt Burton.
The end-to-end stuff continues, and a good Bulldogs set ends with Crichton sending up a bomb. Two wingers go up for it, the ball spills free to Burton, and he offloads to Josh Curran who scores in the left corner. There’s a suggestion in replays that Dogs winger Jethro Rinakama may have knocked on when competing for the bomb, but the bunker clears it and the visitors have the lead.
Crichton caps a wild few minutes with a perfect conversion from the sideline.
Bulldogs 26, Storm 22 with 17 minutes left
And the Bulldogs hit back almost immediately. An Oryn Keeley error proves costly for the Storm as Canterbury go on the attack. Bailey Hayward has returned from his sin bin and throws a horrible pass from dummy-half, but as it rolls along the ground Nick Meaney attempts to grab it and leaves a gap in the defensive line. Matt Burton kicks the ball ahead instead, chases it down and scores in the corner.
The sideline conversion proves too tricky for Stephen Crichton, but it’s still anyone’s guess who will win this one.
Storm 22, Bulldogs 20 with 28 minutes left
A Matt Burton error gives Melbourne a scrum in centre field, and debutant Hayden Watson makes a strong charge and gets a quick play-the-ball. Tyran Wishart – named in the No.6 jersey but doing a lot of work out at hooker tonight – scoops the ball up one-handed from dummy-half and takes off, running past an offside Harry Hayes and hitting a gap, before offloading to Angus Hinchey to score beside the posts.
The Melbourne youngsters are impressing tonight.
Storm 22, Bulldogs 16 with 31 minutes left
We’re back for the second half, with a lot at stake for the Bulldogs in their bid for finals football. The Storm are out of the race already and without their three best players, but they’re playing without pressure and took the game to Canterbury in that first half.
The Bulldogs did give away more penalties and errors than their opponents, so you get the feeling if they get their discipline back on track and have an even split of possession they should have the talent to run away with this one.
Both teams keep things simple with their opening sets of the second half.
Storm 16, Bulldogs 16 with 37 minutes left
There’s late drama in the first half as Trent Toelau kicks ahead for himself, is bumped on the chase by Bailey Hayward, and Lachie Galvin sends the ball over the dead-ball line.
The bunker takes a lot of looks at replays before ruling Hayward committed a professional foul for interfering with Toelau, and Hayward is off to the sin bin.
The Storm cash in immediately, Sua Fa’alago drifting left, cutting inside the rushing Jacob Kiraz, then passing to Moses Leo who scores his second try of the night.
Great effort from the under-strength Storm to still be in this one, and it’s all square at the break after Nick Meaney leaves the sideline conversion just short.
Storm 16, Bulldogs 16 at half-time
It’s end-to-end stuff now, and more Sua Fa’alogo heroics, as the Bulldogs attack down the right through Enari Tuala who then sends Jacob Kiraz bursting towards the corner. But Fa’alogo does well to bump Kiraz towards the sideline, with the winger planting a foot into touch before planting the ball down to score. The touch judge spots it and puts up his flag – no try.
Then there’s a injury scare for Fa’alogo after Connor Tracey falls on him awkwardly in a tackle, the Storm fullback grimacing and clutching his leg before playing the ball. He’s playing on for now.
Bulldogs 16, Storm 12 after 38 minutes
A spectacular kick return from Sua Fa’alogo – arguably the most exciting player in the league when he gets some room to move – suddenly puts Melbourne on the attack, and Trent Toelau goes close to having his third try assist from a kick when a well weighted grubber is almost chased down by Nick Meaney, before Matt Burton kicks the ball over the dead-ball line.
But the referee rules Meaney got a hand to the ball, so the Bulldogs escape with a 20-metre tap.
Bulldogs 16, Storm 12 after 34 minutes
