Suliasi Vunivalu

Joining us today to write a match report on lats night’s game is passionate Eels fan and Twitter user @troypod78. He casts his eye over what happened, all the key moments and what led to the eventual win for the Storm.

In front of a crowd of 8941 at Pirtek Stadium, Melbourne have come away 18-6 winners over the home team, the Parramatta Eels.

Melbourne scored the first try of the match through Vunivalu after receiving a penalty which gave them great field position. Cameron Smith failed with the conversion and the score remained 4 nil.

A no try to Cooper Cronk was ruled by the bunker after Cooper was found to have pushed Eels second rower Manu Ma’u in the back.

A crucial blow to the Eels in the 13th minute when captain Beau Scott was forced from the field with a quad cork that was picked up early in the match. He failed to return for the remainder of the game.

A couple of try scoring chances went begging for Parramatta one after a Corey Norman bomb was knocked on by Michael Gordon and another chance went begging after Semi knocked on again from a Norman bomb.

Melbourne fullback Cameron Munster was everywhere in defence for the Storm with try saving tackles and defusing a chip and chase from Gordon and certainly stopping the Eels from scoring on 3 occasions.

In the 33rd minute, a Blake Green kick was caught on the full by Koroibete who scored out wide for the Storm after Gutherson for the Eels was found to be out of position. Smith failed to convert and the Storm were out to 8 nil.

Right before halftime, a penalty to Melbourne after a Parramatta offside play nearly saw the Storm score a third try to Dale Finucane. However, a try saving tackle in a last ditch effort by Manu Mau stopped that and the bunker ruled no try.

Early on in the second half Munster suffered a elbow injury but he had it strapped up, toughed it out and remained on the field.

Despite that injury, Storm coach Craig Bellamy is confident that the injury sustained by Munster is not serious.

“I think he’s ok, I think he’s jarred it or hyper-extended it,” Bellamy said.

“I don’t think it’s anything real serious but having said that he’s a tough kid. For him to stay out there tonight just goes to show how tough he is and how important footy is and his teammates are to him.

“It would have put us in a bit of a hole if we lost him at that stage but he battled on so I’m thinking it’s not too bad and I’d imagine he’d be looking forward to the week off and hopefully he’ll be 100 per cent next game.”

Parramatta then had a few try scoring chances with Gordon being held up over the line and then knocking on, so the pressure was off Melbourne.

In the 54th minute, Semi Radradra was held up over the line again and the score remained 8 nil.

A video ref try was awarded to Vunivalu after there was a suggestion of a double movement but it wasn’t to be. Smith converted and with 15 mins to go, Melbourne went 14 nil in front and were seemingly in control of the game.

Quick hands out to the left saw former Parramatta player Cheyse Blair score out wide to make it 18 nil with 10 mins to go. Smith failed to convert.

In the end, a consolation try to Jennings after a Foran grubber for Parramatta was converted by Gordon to make the final score 18-6.

Melbourne go on to win their 5th game straight whilst Parramatta have now lost 2 in a row, making their task of playing finals footy harder needing to win 12 from 13.

Despite the loss, motivation is still high at the Eels and Brad Arthur is confident that his side can still make the finals.

“No [the finals aren’t gone]; they’ve been made a little bit harder but that can’t be our priority at the moment. It’s got to be next week,” Arthur said.

“We said what the equation was at the start, we need to keep it positive and we still need to keep it positive. We just need to focus on each week.”

Defence wins games and the steely resolve of the Melbourne side impressed coach Bellamy.

“I thought our defence was great tonight. Our ball control in the first half especially was really good. I suppose ruthless is a good word, especially the way we defended,” Bellamy said.

“To hold them to zero until the 79th minute was a tremendous effort. I thought our defence was really urgent tonight and that obviously led the way to win the game.”

Player of the Game:

3. Suliasi Vunivalu
2. Blake Green
1. Michael Gordon

By ricky

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