ROUND 12
Sun 29 May 2005
2:30PM
Olympic Park Melbourne. Crowd: 7,590
Referee: Russell Smith

Scorers:
MELBOURNE STORM 24
Tries: M King, G Turner, C Smith, M Orford
Goals: M Orford 3/4, C Smith 1/1
ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS 16
Tries: C Best 2, M Cooper
Goals: W Naiqama 2/5

Live commentary:
An overcast day in Melbourne today. The Dragons have 5 players backing up from origin whilst the Storm have 2. The Dragons have been in great form winning 5 in a row, can the Storm bring to an end their winning run, they will have to improve on recent form.

1st min: Play underway. Dragons kicking off.

5th Min: NEWS.
Scott Hill comes from the field with an ankle injury & looks unlikely to return. Matt Geyer comes into the five eight position.

9th Min: TRY - Storm
Matt King darts out from dummy half to score from close range.
Conversion unsuccessful from Orford from out wide
Storm 4-0

12th Min: NEWS.
Barrett kicks out on the full to give the Storm possession in good field position. Storm almost score after Orford grubbers into the in goal and Slater just fails to get the ball down in time.

16th Min: NEWS.
Another penalty to the Storm. Penalty count 4-0.
The Storm have had all the ball in Dragons territory so far.

20th Min: NEWS.
The referee is trying to even up the penalty count giving the Dragons the last 3 penalty's.

21st Min: PENALTY GOAL - Dragons
From the ensueing penalty Wes Naiqama converts from in front.
Storm 4-2

26th Min: NEWS.
The referee is going to blow the pea out of the whistle. Penalty count Storm 5- Dragons 4.

31st Min: NEWS.
The referee warns both the captains that he will sin bin players if the infringements continue to come.

32nd Min: TRY - Storm
Glen Turner receives a flat pass close to the line which see's him go through some flimsy defence to score.
Orford is successful with the kick
Storm 10 - 2

35th Min: TRY - Dragons
Mark Gasnier draws the winger to put Colin Best into the gap and he outsprints Billy Slater to score out wide.
Conversion unsuccessful from Naiqama
Storm 10 - 6

37th Min: NEWS.
Slater knocks on from a kick to give the Dragons a good chance to level up right before halftime.

39th Min: PENALTY GOAL - Dragons
Slater is penalised for a high tackle on Ryles.
Conversion successful from Naiqama
Storm 10 - 8

HALFTIME....

The Storm have had the best of possession & field position for the majority of the first half but poor last tackle options have cost them more tries. To the Dragons credit they started to make some inroads into the Storm defence in the last 10 minutes and were looking the better of the 2 teams going into the sheds at the break. A great second half awaits.

41st Min: Second half underway. Storm kicking off.
Scott Hill returns to the bench or the second half.

43rd Min: NEWS.
A great kick return from Billy Slater from his own tryline to make it to the halfway.

47th Min: TRY - Dragons
A great try to the Dragons after Hornby goes through the gap and passes to Gasnier who gives it off to Best who has to much pace to score out wide. Ben Hornby is down injured after receiving a big shoulder from Billy Slater and has hit his head on the ground and he leaves the field.
Conversion unsuccessful from Naiqama
Dragons 12 - 10

54th Min: TRY - Storm
Cameron Smith goes from dummy half to get through some soft defence to score next to the post
Conversion successful from Orford
Storm 16 - 12

59th Min: TRY - Dragons
Matt Cooper scores out wide for the Dragons after they spread the ball wide and create an overlap. Cooper did well to get the ball down inside the touchline.
conversion unsuccessful from Naiqama
16 all.

62nd Min: NEWS.
The refereee continues to give away a heap of penalties.

63rd Min: TRY - Storm
Matt Orford steps through some tired defence to score under the posts.
Conversion successful from Orford
Storm 22 - 16

67th Min: NEWS.
Off to the Video ref possible try to Dragons
NO TRY - 20 metre restart.

68th Min: NEWS.
Orford kicks out on the full from the restart to give the Dragons good field position.

72nd Min: NEWS.
Shaun Timmins starts throwing punches to give away a silly penalty. Another fight nearly breaks out after another tackle for lifting the attacker over the horizontal.

73rd Min: PENALTY GOAL - Storm
Cameron Smith converts from the penalty to give them the game.
Storm 24 - 16

FULLTIME...

The Storm have run out 24 - 16 winners in a match marred by penalties. The referee had to give away 24 penalties in a match that turned spiteful towards the end as the match started to get away from the Dragons.

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Leagueunlimited.com players of the match:
3 - B Slater (Storm)
2 - R Kearns (Storm)
1 - M King (Storm)
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