The Melbourne Storm easily beat the Sydney Roosters in the match that took place on Saturday night.
Result
Melbourne Storm 30
Tries: (5) Xavier Coates 11th, 55th, 73rd; Jahrome Hughes 52nd; Harry Grant 63rd
Goals: (5) Nick Meaney 12th, 53rd, 57th, 64th, 75th
Sydney Roosters 16
Tries: (3) Daniel Tupou 32nd, 77th; Siua Wong 79th
Goals: (2) Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii 77th, 80th
Report
Both sides headed into this match fresh from a week off and Melbourne received a boost with Origin representatives Harry Grant, Xavier Coates, and Cameron Munster returning. The Roosters, however, would be without captain James Tedesco after he was rested following game three of the series on Wednesday night, although prop Lindsay Collins did slot back into the side.
The first half of this match was closely fought and low-scoring, with both sides heading into halftime with only one four-pointer to show for their efforts. For the Storm, it was Xavier Coates who crossed in the 11th minute of play in a length-of-the-field effort, and almost 20 minutes later, it would be Daniel Tupou who finally got the Roosters on the board.
Only two points would separate the sides heading into the break, with Roosters kicker Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii unable to convert four into six, while Melbourne kicker Nick Meaney had more success with his shot at goal, leaving the scores at four versus six at the end of the first 40.
As close as the first half of the match was, the second was a complete turnaround.
Melbourne came out of the sheds with a point to prove and ran away with four unanswered tries with efforts from Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant, among another two for Xavier Coates, who brought up his hat-trick with only five minutes left to play.
The Roosters were left in the dust, unable to push past their halftime score until two late consolation tries that came in the 77th and 79th minutes, with Daniel Tupou grabbing another and Siua Wong getting on the board.
It was too little, too late for the tricolours in the end, going down 16-30 to a dominant Melbourne performance.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR POINTS
Embed from Getty Images3 – Xavier Coates (Storm)
2 – Daniel Tupou (Roosters)
1 – Cameron Munster (Storm)
