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Sport | NRL

Warriors owned by Storm after dumb shoulder charge

The Warriors were the own worst enemy against a slick Storm outfit tonight, going down 32-10 in a one-sided NRL fixture at Mt Smart Stadium. The key turning point of the game was a moment of sheer stupidity just before halftime, a shoulder charge by Chris Satae that completely flipped the momentum on its head.

That scoreline in itself should come as a surprise, given that the Warriors came within a point of upsetting the Storm back in a controversial Anzac Day loss. Then, even more after they dominated the game early, as a decent contingent of the Storm were backing up after Wednesday night’s State of Origin game.

Nonetheless, the Storm were still able to open the scoring with a penalty goal in the sixth minute by Cameron Smith.

After 13 minutes, some slick work down the left hand edge by Kodi Nikorima saw Ken Maumalo score the opening try. Issac Luke’s conversion sailed wide, but only six minutes later the hardy crowd had even more reason to get on their feet.

This time Nikorima did it all himself, latching onto a kick along  the deck by Blake Green to score next to the posts to make the score 10-2. However, after Josh Addo-Carr cut back inside and put in a cross field kick, Satae came flying out of the line and levelled the NSW Origin star with his shoulder. The Warriors prop was placed on report and is highly likely to face a suspension.

That, after 34 minutes, proved to be just what the Storm needed. Shortly after, fullback Jahrome Hughes burrowed over to close the gap up to 10-8 at the break.

The Storm then came out and completely dominated the second period, with Hughes grabbing his second only a minute after the restart. Suliasi Vunivalu and Jesse Bromwich’s tries, along with a penalty goal to Smith pushed the score out to an unassailable 18 point lead for the Storm, before Marion Seve scored an easy try in the corner to finish the game off.

The win shoots the Storm back up to the top of the NRL ladder, after the second placed Rabbitohs lost last night to the Knights. The Warriors drop down to 12th, for now, pending the rest of the weekend’s results.

Storm 32 (J Hughes 2, S Vunivalu, J Bromwich, M Seve tries; C Smith 6 goals)

Warriors 10 (K Maumalo, K Nikorima tries; I Luke goal)

HT: 10-8 Warriors