For 62 minutes, the St George Illawarra Dragons looked set to upset last year’s runner-up before Melbourne fullback Sualauvi Faalogo crashed the party, scoring a late hat-trick to power the Storm to a 46-20 win at WIN Stadium.
Despite trailing 12-0 early, the Dragons had produced a gutsy effort to lead 20-18 with less than a quarter to play. But it was an untimely HIA to captain Clint Gutherson – that came with halves pairing Daniel Atkinson and Kyle Flanagan already battling ankle injuries – that opened the door for a Storm surge.
Melbourne crossed five times in the last 18 minutes, with Faalogo scoring three of them, to announce himself well and truly on the NRL stage.
The Dragons were left to rue a night besotted by injuries, HIA’s (three) and errors (12).
“Too many errors. We killed ourselves with yardage errors, kicking out on the full,” Dragon’s coach Shane Flanagan said.
“We just put ourselves under too much pressure. In the 62nd minute, we’re in the game and still leading 20-18.
“But we didn’t deserve to win the last 20 minutes. The amount of ball we turned over in the first half and the second half put us under too much pressure … we were our own worst enemy.”
Match: Dragons v Storm
Round 2 -
home Team
Dragons
14th Position
away Team
Storm
1st Position
Venue: WIN Stadium, Wollongong
Earlier, the Storm opened the scoring with a fourth-minute penalty goal and continued to control the opening exchanges, quickly setting up a 12-0 lead with tries to Will Warbrick and Jack Howarth.
Warbrick dove over from a slick backline shift and was in the thick of it soon after when he tried to catch a bomb but dropped the ball into Gutherson’s back. The video referee declared the ball ricocheted backwards into Howarth’s waiting hands, and the points were added.
With the wind at their back the Dragons needed a response, and it came through a slick backline shift in the 20th minute. Centre Moses Suli held up his pass to Christian Tuipulotu perfectly, and the money man went over in the corner to get the score back to 12-4.
Valentine Holmes scored the first of two for the night in the 28th minute off a spectacular Atkinson pass. Hamish Stewart broke through the line with a clever dummy and sent Ryan Couchman on a gallop to the line only to see the prop stopped just short.
A quick play-the-ball allowed the ball to get to the halfback on the front foot and after cutting back left, Atkinson fired a cutout to the right and Holmes obliged.
When Gutherson crashed into the left corner from a Suli offload nearing halftime, the Dragons led 14-12, but with nine seconds to go before the break, Australian hooker and Storm captain Harry Grant pinched a try and the lead at the break to the tune of 18-14.
It was a gut-wrenching blow, particularly as both Dragons halves had suffered ankle injuries within 30 seconds of each other just prior.
Despite playing hampered, Atkinson combined with Holmes again early in the second stanza, and the Dragons dared to dream at 20-18.
But as fatigue started to set in, Gutherson’s head assessment forced a reshuffle, with Holmes moving to fullback, Suli changing sides and Mathew Feagai coming on for the first time at left centre. Faalogo pounced on the new look defensive line, slicing through to give the Storm back the lead.
They wouldn’t relinquish it again as he scored his second three minutes later before Jahrome Hughes iced the contest with his own individual effort.
Faalogo’s third, and a try to Moses Leo right on fulltime, added insult to injury for the home side.
NRL Match Highlights: Round 2 vs. Storm
“Both halves have got bad ankles. They will probably both have-to-have scans. I watched both tackles, they weren’t hip drops, but weight landed on the lower legs and they got swung around,” Flanagan said. “It’s a bit of a concern”.
“Both of them got treatment at halftime and had to have their ankles strapped. They’re two tough young men and they know how important it is that we don’t lose a half. So they just got on with it.”
The Dragons next travel to CommBank Stadium on Sunday March 22 to face Parramatta.
NRL Press Conference: Round 2 vs. Storm
