Canberra Raiders end Melbourne Storm's winning streak
THE Melbourne Storm winning streak ended as the Canberra Raiders continued one of their own, holding on to score a third straight win at AAMI Park.
While the scoreline of 24-20 was shy of last year's rout, the Raiders - as they did that night - put Storm to the sword only for the home team to make a late, unsuccessful charge home.
And indicative of Storm's ill-fated night an inexplicable kick from Gareth Widdop with 1:16 on the clock sealed the remarkable win for the Raiders.
Given a scrum feed 40m out, on the first play, Widdop kicked the ball as part of a set-play no-one else was in on.
There were no chasers, Raiders winger Edrick Lee caught the ball uncontested, and Canberra merely had to run down the clock to win.
It was a win for the Canberra coaching team as much as the players who came to Melbourne with a plan that Craig Bellamy couldn't adjust to.
The Raiders played quick and wide in attack, targeted Storm's weak spots, and earned themselves a four-try haul.
Down by 12 points after Canberra winger Reece Robinson breached the Storm line and ran 60m to score his team's fourth, Melbourne finally switched on.
The kicking game of Cooper Cronk, which had taken a leave of absence in the first half, finally appeared and two kicks from the halfback set up two tries in four minutes and got Melbourne back in the game.
Sadly skipper Cameron Smith, wearied by his truckload of tackles, missed both sideline conversions, which proved telling in a four-point game.
But that Melbourne was relying on conversions to win was in itself telling, after a poor defensive effort in the opening 40 minutes left Melbourne wanting time and again.
Speed is a golden commodity in any sporting pursuit and the Raiders used theirs to great advantage early.
While they slowed Melbourne down in attack, the visitors were zippy themselves with the ball, and along the ground out wide where their backline was running amok, too often given room to move as Storm defenders jammed in too early and too far, Blake Ferguson particular was having a party.
He scored twice for the Raiders, in the opening 10 minutes and then right again on the hooter, continually making his opposite number Justin O'Neill, a speed demon himself, look all at sea and he missed five tackles in the opening half.
On the other side of the field, languid Canberra winger Lee could have scored a couple of times, and was denied once by the video referee.
In comparison Storm's backline was doing its best work running the ball out of Melbourne's half, and when in attacking range, hardly saw the ball.
Instead the line-busts were being made by Melbourne's forwards, including Tohu Harris, Kevin Proctor and Jesse Bromwich who scored his team's opener in the 16th minute.
Mustering nothing from Cronk's kicking game, Storm fullback Billy Slater took it upon himself to generate something, making a line-bust then, with no support, kicking to earn his team a line-drop out after just over half an hour of play.
It was again Slater who, the beneficiary of a well-rehearsed inside pass from Cronk, that sent his team in to the lead with a try as he carried three defenders over.
But as the penalties continued to mount against Melbourne, on a night where confusing refereeing decisions were in abundance, the Raiders continued to press forward.
And after three penalties against Melbourne, two while they defended their own goal line, the speed the Raiders used so effectively helped Ferguson bust past O'Neill for his second.
The Storm centre was so confused - he'd rushed past Ferguson as the pass from Canberra halfback Josh McCrone whizzed past him.
The half-time score was 12-12, but the Raiders, while undermanned in the forward pack, had shown they knew where the chinks in Melbourne's defensive armour were.
They were out wide, and they were there to be exposed, which Canberra did.
CANBERRA 24 (B Ferguson 2 R Robinson J Wighton tries B Ferguson 4 goals) bt
MELBOURNE 20 (J Bromwich M Fonua J O'Neill B Slater tries C Smith 2 goals) at AAMI Park.
Referee: Phil Haines, Ashley Klein.
Crowd: 15,464.
Source: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/canberra-raiders-end-melbourne-storms-winning-streak/story-e6frexs0-1226635229850
Topic: Raiders end Storm winning streak with outstanding performance
