LASHED BY THE STORM
19 March 2005
FOR the second time in as many weeks the St George Illawarra Dragons have given their opposition a massive start and been unable to reel them in, this week falling 46-12 to the Melbourne Storm at WIN Stadium tonight.
The Dragons trailed 24-0 at halftime following several lightning strikes from the Storm, who were lead brilliantly by their halfback Matt Orford.
Orford caused havoc for the Dragons defence all night and looks intent of proving he is ready to step into the State of Origin arena in the near future.
After a promising opening set of six which ended with a probing Mathew Head grubber the home side was shell-shocked when the Storm scored first in just the third minute.
Hooker Michael Ennis charged down a Scott Hill kick but the Storm regathered and headed downfield before prop Robbie Kearns crashed over.
Barely four minutes later boom Storm fullback Billy Slater extended the lead to 12-0 when he scooped up a brilliant Hill offload.
Hill ran an inside line off Orford before popping the ball while falling under heavy attention.
Orford and Slater were back in the thick of things soon after, setting up Matt King for a try in the left corner.
Another Orford inside ball, this time to Slater, saw the fullback leave Lance Thompson grasping at thin air before passing out to King who duly dived over.
Ennis had further worries on the 20th minute mark when he was placed on report for a high tackle on Ryan Hoffman.
Now the hooker must wait to see if the match review committee decide to charge him on Monday.
Cameron Smith added a penalty goal before the Storm scored a cracking try through Orford, which went through no less than nine sets of hands.
Matt Geyer made a half bust before Slater batted a pass on out wide and Orford finished the movement off by dummying past Ben Hornby to set up the large halftime lead.
Just like last week the Dragons started better in the second stanza, with Dean Young scoring in the 45th minute.
Hornby provided the nuggety second rower with a clever short pass to get the Dragons on the board.
But the try just kick started the Storm who went further ahead through tries to Smith, Orford and Steve Bell.
Smith pushed his way over from close range, Orford scooted 55metres after intercepting a Head pass while Bell brushed aside Matt Cooper to score on the left side.
Colin Best grabbed some consolation for the Dragons in the 68th minute but it did little to appease the 9,032 disappointed fans.
Bells second try rubbed salt into the wounds of an under strength Dragons unit.
MELBOURNE STORM 46 (Matt Orford 2, Steve Bell 2, Robbie Kearns, Billy Slater, Matt King, Cameron Smith tries; Matt Orford 4, Cameron Smith 3 goals) d. ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS 12 (Dean Young, Colin Best tries; Mathew Head 2 goals) Crowd: 9,032
