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NZ WARRIORS 6 MELBOURNE STORM 50
Second half
Storm 50 (Vanivalu 3, Momirovski 2, Papenhuyzen 2, Addo-Carr & Brandon Smith tries; Cam Smith 7 goals) Warriors 6 (Herbert try; Harris-Tavita goal)
40th minute: Storm goe left, but Kenny Bromwich spills the ball in a tackle and both teams will take their time to this scrum.
Green takes the final tackle as the final siren sounds. Sigh!
39th minute: Harris puts Murchie through a gap, but he can't control the ball and spills it.
38th minute: Another set restart for the Warriors, but it doesn't seem to help them.
37th minute: Harris breakes a tackle, but Papenhuyzen is again equal to Green's speculator.
34th minute: Fassumamaleaui returns from his HIA.
TRY to Addo-Carr
Cam Smith finds open territory with a kick on the last tackle and Addo-Carr beats RTS to the ball, kicking ahead and gathering for a try. He bangs his head on the ground and looks worst for wear.
Addo-Carr leaves the field and Smith converts for the half century. Yikes!
32nd minute: Another restart for the Warriors, but Hiku spills the ball on the first tackle.
31st minute: Herbert is again stopped shot of the line and Green's stab-kick is gathered by Papenhuzen.
30th minute: Another restart for Warriors in their own territory.
28th minute: Harris puts Blair through a gap, but his back-flick pass finds Eisenhuth.
27th minute: Warriors get a set restart in Storm territory. RTS is cut down short of the line.
Green grubbers to the posts on the last, but Papenhuyzen is safe on the rolling ball.
25th minute: Kenny Bromwich passes his HIA, so he subs on for Finucane.
23rd minute: TRY to Brandon Smith
Warriors are falling off tackles and Smith takes on Blair, who seems to stop him, but Smith overpowers him to force over the line. Cameron Smith converts.
22nd minute: Warriors try to launch an attack, but Nikorima's pass is picked off by Momirovski, who is eventually dragged down short.
The ball goes left, bu the Warriors are penalised.
21st minute: Big run from Eisenhuth, Kaufusi has an open line, but tries to find Vanivalu with a pass that's intercepted by Maumalo.
19th minute: TRY to Vunivalu
Brandon Smith makes big ground with two runs and Hughes eventually chips behind Maumalo for Vunivalu to run onto. This is now officially ugly!
Smith converts.
18th minute: Storm get a set restart to launch another attack.
16th minute: TRY to Vunivalu
On the last, Momirovski puts a kick through, collected by Kaufusi and when Hughes is tackled, Vunivalu weaves through the defence to score his second. Smith converts.
Tino Fassumamaleaui is off for a head injury assessment, leaving no replacements on the Storm bench.
14th minute: RTS tries to put Beale across the line, but Beale can't take the point blank pass.
13th minute: Green kicks high on the last and Vunivalu loses the ball in a tackle. Warriors ball on the Storm 20.
12th minute: Hugh kicks high to Maumalo, the ball bounces around and Papenhuyzen is tackled on the last.
11th minute: Another set restart and Paasi offloads to Harris-Tavita. RTS floats a long pass to Herbert with the line open, but Herbert could not control it.
Bromwish is not OK - he leaves for an HIA.
10th minute: Nikorima kicks across field, and there's a midfield collison between RTS and Kenny Bromwich, who's holding his head. He's OK and Storm have a dropout.
Ninth minute: Maumalo runs from his own 20 and the ball spills in the tackle, but the Storm are penalised.
Seventh minute: TRY to Papenhuyzen
The ball goes right and Papenhuyzen spears through a gap outside Hiku. RTS challenges, because Asofa-Solomona makes contact with Harris-Tavita, but the contact is found to be incidental.
Try stands, but Smith slices his conversion from wide out.
Sixth minute: Harris spills the ball in a tackle on his own 40. Storm run the ball on the last and Hughes is held up short of the try-line.
Cam Smith challenges the call and Paasi has touched the ball. Storm ball on the goal-line.
Third minute: TRY to Herbert
Harris lunges and is held up, but the ball is spun right, where Nikorima, RTS and Beale flick it on for Herbert to cross in the corner. Harris-Tavita slots the conversion from the sideline.
That's an encouraging start for the Warriors.
Second minute: Warriors get a set restart in the Storm 20. Harris-Tavita dives from dummy half - he's short, but Storm are penalised on their line.
First minute: Cam Smith kicks off and Paasi takes the first hit-up of the second half.
Cam Smith will likely move into Munster's role, Brandon Smith taking the dummy half position.
Apparently Munster has succumbed to his knee injury and won't play the second half.
First half
Storm 22 (Momirovski 2, Vunivalu & Papenhuyzen tries; Cam Smith 3 goals) Warriors 0
40th minute: Cam Smith grubbers into touch to kill time as the half winds down. Beale is tackled as the siren sounds.
38th minute: Tohu Harris tries to find his outsides with a looping pass, but it's cut off by Momirovski.
37th minute: Green puts up a high kick that bounce off Momirovski's chest and into a teammate - offside.
36th minute: Momirovski drops a pass within sight of the line. Warriors earn a set restart near halfway.
35th minute: Vunivalu makes huge metres down the right, Asofa-Solomona is tackled centimetres from the line and the Warriors are penalised for laying around the ruck.
32nd minute: TRY to Momirovski
Munster puts up a kick to the goal-line, Maumalo spills the high ball, Vunivalu recovers the loose ball and Momirovski strolls over untouched for his second.
Smith converts.
30th minute: Smith kicks to goal and RTS eludes three tacklers to find the field of play.
28th minute: TRY to Papenhuyzen
From dummy half, Papenhuyzen is over the line in a couple of tackles and it's reviewed - he has forced the ball to score.
The game is getting away from the Warriors, after a promising start. Smith converts.
Lawton has also failed his HIA, so another injury. Harris-Tavita is stuck at dummy half for the rest of the game.
27th minute: Cam Smith runs from dummy half, but he's ankle-tapped by Papali'i lying on the ground and Warriors are penalised.
25th minute: TRY to Vunivalu
That was too easy. When the ball comes right, Papenhuzen sets Vunivalu loose and he beats Maumalo on the outside.
RTS and Hiku have a defensive misunderstanding, neither get close to stopping the winger.
Smith slots the conversion.
24th minute: Welch has failed his HIA.
23rd minute: Storm haven't had a single tackle inside Warriors 20. Murchie tries to offload in a tackle, but it's knocked on.
22nd minute: Brandon Smith comes on for Jesse Bromwich for the Storm.
21st minute: Nikorima dabs from dummy half and slips a pass to Maumalo, but he's tackled short. Warriors keep push, but Murchie is tackled on the last.
20th minute: Herbert dragged down short of the corner, Green kicks on the last, regathered by Hiku and his kick rebounds off two Storm players - accidental offside and another attacking scrum to Warriors.
19th minute: Kaufusi loses the ball in a tackle, as it's kneed out of his grasp. Scrum to Warriors on the 20.
18th minute: RTS jinks through a half gap, but is just brought down before he can cause damage.
17th minute: Melbourne get a set restart, after Green is caught dallying around the ruck, but Kenny Bromwich drops a pass to let the Warriors off.
16th minute: Harris-Tavita seems to be on for Lawton at dummy half. Lawton is undergoing an HIA.
13th minute: TRY to Momirovski
RTS puts a grubber towards the line, Addo-Carr gathers and sprints upfield. Hiku eventually cuts him off, but the Storm have the Warriors in tatters and eventually finds the open man for the try.
Cameron Smith hooks his conversion attempt.
11th minute: Melbourne penalised for stripping Maumalo after the tackle call, so another attacking opportunity coming up.
10th minute: Green kicks to the in-goal and Hughes is forced to tidy up, failing to make the field of play. Storm drop-out.
Ninth minute: Hughes puts a kick towards Maumalo, who takes it on the full and gallops to halfway on the first tackle.
Eighth minute: Blair smashes into Welch in a tackle and the Storm player is groggy as he gets up. Blair immediately recognises the danger and stops play, Welch leaves for his HIA.
Seventh minute: Beale gives Herbert a look at the corner and he puts the ball down over the line. He seems to lose possession and the bunker agrees, but that's twice they've been over the line now.
Addo-Carr takes on Herbert down the sideline, but the Warriors wing is up to the task, taking into touch on the 40.
Sixth minute: Green puts up a high kick, taken by Addo-Carr, but Storm are penalised for impeding the tacklers. Munsters gets his knee taped.
Fifth minute: Hughes kicks high on the last tackle, but Maumalo tides up the loose ball.
Fourth minute: Welch gets an offload to Papehuyzen, who makes ground, but suffers a head knock in the tackle. He retakes his position.
Two tackles later, Cameron Munster clutches his knee, so a few early injury concernts for the Storm.
Third minute: Strong run from Murchie puts Warriors in attacking position. Maumalo takes three tacklers over in the corner, but he can't get the ball down before going touch in goal.
Seven-tackle set for the Storm.
Second minute: Kenny Bromwich is penalised and the Warriors get a relieving clearance.
First minute: Warriors kick off and Welch takes the first hit-up for Melbourne.
Hughes puts up a bomb at the end of the set, but RTS takes it comfortably.
*****
Blake Green plays his 50th game fo the Warriors tonight. Ironcially, he also played 50 for Melbourne Storm.
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Scary stat of the night - the Storm have only lost consecutive games twice in their history. We're working to verify this :-/
Remember they lost last week to the Panthers.
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Late changes for both teams, with Tigers loaner Paul Momirovski replacing Brenko Lee in the Storm centres.
Warriors interim coach Todd Payten has shifted Adam Blair into the front row, with Isaiah Papali'i coming off the bench to start in the second row, while Tohu Harris takes Blair's place at loose forward.
Gerard Beale, who came in to replace David Fusitu'a, moves to centre, with Patrick Herbert shifting to the wing.
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Kia ora, good evening and welcome to Newshub's live coverage of the NZ Warriors v Melbourne Storm NRL clash from Sydney's Jubilee Oval.
This has been a tough week for a Warriors roster already struggling to stay competitive in the coronavirus-stricken competition.
Reeling from a 40-12 loss to South Sydney last Friday, the news got worse next morning, when coach Stephen Kearney recieved his marching orders from club management, leaving players searching their consciences.
Their casualy ward grew a little bigger, with David Fusitu'a and Lachlan Burr both sidelined by head injuries suffered against the Rabbitohs. Rookie forward Eliesa Katoa also tweaked an ankle and will spend a couple of weeks on the sidelines.
Almost as a show of consolation, the NRL has renewed its efforts to have families allowed across international borders to join their husbands and partners, perhaps sensing that the team were at their wits' end and ready to call it a day.
Badly in need of a solid performance on the field, the draw hasn't been kind to the Warriors, pitting them against perennial contenders Melbourne, who will want to make amends after an upset loss to Penrith Panthers last week.
The Warriors already have a shaky record against their archrivals and perhaps their only hope is that the fixture has been shifted from Melbourne to Sydney, after a sizeable spike in COVID-19 cases in Victoria.
NZ Warriors 'not tough enough for long enough' - Payten
Interim coach Todd Payten's has made a brutal assessment of the NZ Warriors, before his first game in charge on Friday.
Payten has lashed his team's inconsistency, drawing a line in the sand, after the sacking of head coach Stephen Kearney, with the focus now on the Melbourne Storm.
Payten has no interest in dwelling on the past. Kearney's gone and the players can't feel sorry for themselves.
"They know they're here to play footy," he says. "I think I've commented plenty about those two days - I'd like to talk about our team."
Payten knows the threat they face against Melbourne.
"I asked the team to watch the first half. We were on top, playing the better for that 40 minutes, so in some ways, we were close - in some ways, we were a million miles away."
The focus has been defensive intensity, with their four defeats this season coming by an average of 22 points.
Payten believes that theme is one of the main issues facing the club.
"We haven't been tough enough for long enough or consistent. Those two things are the things we need to change.
"We've put a big focus on our goal-line defence. Attack hasn't been a problem so much, it's more around our defensive resilience."
And the critics agree, with no shortage of opinions about what needs to happen next.
"There's no doubt about their talent," says Fox Sports' Paul Kent. "But where they have always struggled is in the grind."
Payten's been able to make some minor changes since he took charge, but admits he's not had too much time to think long term.
"Some staffing roles, some game-day roles... moving forward, there may be some more changes, once I really nail down any of that.
"My thoughts this week have been around preparing for a footy game."
For now, Payton's just dealing with the here and now.
"When I spoke to [Warriors chief executive Cam George, he said there's no pressure from the club. He just wants me to dive in head first and have a crack."
