Poms in Oz: Raiders battle past the Storm
Gareth Widdop was one of Melbourne’s few sparkling lightening bolts as the Storm were defeated 40-12 against Canberra.
In what has been called the shock of the year so far in the NRL, league leaders Storm were expected to walk over a Canberra side who were not even in contention for the top eight.
The game transpired in the other direction, as winger Edrick Lee scored a hat trick to set up a dramatic win for the Raiders.
Blake Ferguson and Reece Robinson gave the visitors an early 10-0 lead before Melbourne hit back through Justin O’Neill.
However when normal service looked to have been resumed, Canberra had other ideas. They went further ahead with tries from Lee and Sandor Earl.
Widdop set up O’Neill for his second and that was all the Storm fans had to cheer about as the second half proved to be something of a complete Raiders’ invasion.
Lee scored his second try early in the first half, before Jarrod Croker dived over on the 56th minute.
Earl grabbed his second before Lee completed his hat trick with nine minutes remaining at AAMI Park.
All three Burgess brothers lined up as South Sydney demolished Newcastle 34-14 at ANZ Stadium.
Luke and Sam Burgess started alongside each other in the front row, while George Burgess started on the bench in the number 18 shirt.
Souths started the game strongly, and never really looked back. Dylan Farrell, John Sutton and Andrew Everingham all scored before the game reached its 20 minute mark. Issac Luke completed the Rabbitohs’ scoring for the first half.
Newcastle replied with tries from Akuila Uate and Chris Houston in the first 40, but they were never strong enough to turn around a strong Bunnies side. Nathan Peats and Chris McQueen completed Souths’ tries before the game’s hour mark, but Uate grabbed his second try of the game with 13 minutes remaining.
James Graham and Chris Heighington came together as the Bulldogs defeated the Wests Tigers 32-20 on the Friday night.
Graham came off the bench for the victors, while Heighington started at lock for the Tigers.
However Ben Barba controlled the game, and ended up on the score sheet himself for his 57th minute effort.
Josh Morris and Josh Reynolds both scored doubles, while Kristan Inu completed the game’s scoring in the 68th minute.
The Tigers replied with tries from Joel Reddy, Beau Ryan, Chris Lawrence and Masada Iosefa.
Jack Reed’s Brisbane Broncos had a bye after the third State of Origin game, however Reed is out for six weeks after suffering a fracture to his leg against Cronulla.
