Round 17
South Sydney Rabbitohs 8 l. Melbourne Storm 12

2007 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Folau rescues Storm
Sat July 7, 2007
Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au

Young superstar in the making, Israel Folau, has come off the bench to score the match-winning try to seal a hard fought 12-8 win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs in Gosford.

Drafted into the squad at the last minute to cover late withdrawals, Folau shrugged off the hamstring injury he picked up against the Dragons a fortnight ago to add to his already impressive season try-scoring tally.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy was full of praise for the young outside back.

"Young Folau, he was never going to play all week, he basically come up for a trip to the Central Coast," said Bellamy.

"But last night when we lost Cronk, we just had to put him in.

"He put up a wonderful performance for someone who was injured. It usually plays on young guys' minds but he was tremendous. He just went out there and played flat out and scored the try at the end. It probably typified our performance tonight.

"We were going to leave young Israel out, but we were a little nervous about not having a back on the bench, so Israel put his hand up and he was wonderful out there tonight."

With the Storm down 8-6 with only seven minutes left on the clock, an inside-out James Aubusson kick found Folau 10 metres out with plenty of work to do. A quick inside step saw him beat one defender, and then brute strength took him through the last defender to give his team the win.

A lacklustre first half, where the Rabbitohs went in at the break leading 8-0 thanks to tries from Tilleen Gordon and Nathan Merritt, had the Storm faithful worried. But a few home truths from Bellamy during the break saw Melbourne return to the field a far more committed outfit.

"We didn't look like scoring a try there for the first 60 minutes of the game," said Bellamy.

"Souths were very committed with their defence and we just struggled a little bit with our structure.

"I though we were trying to play a little bit too fancy with the footy, where we just needed to be a little simpler, a little more direct.

"To the boys' credit they turned it around in the second half."

In the 59th minute, an Aubusson kick found King on the fly. Towering over the Rabbitohs defenders, King plucked the ball out of the air to score before Cam Smith converted to make it a two point game.

Folau's heroics 14 minutes later sealed the win for the Storm, consolidating their position at the head of the NRL Premiership table.

STORM 12 (Tries: King, Folau; Goals: C. Smith 2) def. RABBITOHS 8 (Tries: Gordon, Merritt) at Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford.

Report sent by: www.melbournestorm.com.au


Storm Round 17 v Rabbitohs Game Notes
Sat July 7, 2007
Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au

Melbourne Storm had the bye last weekend, but still extended their lead at the top of the 2007 Telstra NRL Premiership ladder when Manly suffered a shock 26-22 loss to the St George-Illawarra Dragons.

The Rabbitohs came from behind to snatch a remarkable 28-25 win over the Newcastle Knights at EnergyAustralia Stadium. The win elevated the Rabbitohs to 11th on the NRL ladder.

WHO: Melbourne Storm v South Sydney Rabbitohs
WHAT: Round 17 of the 2007 Telstra Premiership season
WHERE: Bluetongue Stadium, Gosford
WHEN: Saturday, July 7th, 2007
ON TV: Fox Sports 3 - 5:30pm
CHECK IT OUT: Melbourne Storm's website with all the latest stats, profiles, updates, schedule and training times, alerts, news etc - www.melbournestorm.com.au

INS AND OUTS
Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy has named a 17-man squad for the clash against the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Bellamy has named all five of his Origin representatives in the starting line-up, hoping they get through Wednesday's State-of-Origin clash in Brisbane unscathed.

Billy Slater returns from injury to take his place at fullback, having recovered from two facial fractures he sustained in the Storm's Round 11 clash against the Sea Eagles in Sydney.

Steve Turner, who has been deputising for Slater at fullback, will take his place on the wing.

With Cooper Cronk still suffering from an ankle injury, James Aubusson has been named to start at halfback.

Israel Folau has not recovered from the hamstring injury he sustained against St George-Illawarra and won't take his place in the squad.

FAST FACTS
* Melbourne, over the past two seasons, has led at half-time on 31 occasions, going on to win 30 times.
* Melbourne has won their past four games against South Sydney.

DID YOU KNOW?
* Storm coach Craig Bellamy is a fully qualified electrician, although he readily admits he's glad he's a coach because he wasn't cut out to be a sparky!

KEY MATCH-UP
As is always the case, the Rabbitohs will be lead from the front by their captain, Roy Asotasi. And he will be even more fired up than usual this week given it's his 100th NRL game. Not noted for his try-scoring, Asotasi has scored three tries in his past two games against the Sharks and Knights. Given he'd only scored seven in his 97 NRL games before that, he's definitely on a hot streak! He has run for 2,203 metres in 2007, the second most in the competition, so if he gets a roll on come Saturday, he will be very hard to stop.

The big Kiwi international will be coming up against another man who has a point to prove.

Brett White's omission from NSW's Origin III team will no doubt provide a spark set to ignite proceedings at Bluetongue Stadium on Saturday evening. White, an old-fashioned, no-nonsense prop doesn't usually need any ammunition to give his all for the Storm, but his disappointment at missing out on Origin III may come back to haunt the Bunnies. While the backline get most of the plaudits, the Storm's game plan, which is built around a solid defence, has been as good as their breakthrough 2006 season, and White has been a key part of that success. He will no doubt want to go out and prove a few people wrong come Saturday.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
Total: Played: 11, Storm: 9, Rabbitohs: 2
At Bluetongue Stadium: First meeting

FOR AND AGAINST 2007
Points for: Storm: 388, Rabbitohs: 235
Points against: Storm: 193, Rabbitohs: 239
Tries for: Storm: 71, Rabbitohs: 41
Points differential: Storm: +195, Rabbitohs: -4

LAST ROUND MATCHES
Storm: BYE
Rabbitohs: def. Knights 28-25 @ EnergyAustralia Stadium, Newcastle

LAST EIGHT CLASHES
2007 Storm def. Rabbitohs 26-10 @ Olympic Park
2006 Storm def. Rabbitohs 38-14 @ Telstra Stadium
2005 Storm def. Rabbitohs 48-6 @ Olympic Park
2005 Storm def. Rabbitohs 38-12 @ Aussie Stadium
2004 Rabbitohs def. Storm 28-26 @ Aussie Stadium
2004 Storm def. Rabbitohs 50-4 @ Olympic Park
2003 Storm def. Rabbitohs 24-6 @ Olympic Park
2003 Rabbitohs def. Storm 41-14 @ Aussie Stadium

THE STORM STORY SO FAR
ROUND 1: Storm 18 (Tries: J. Smith, Hoffman, Folau; Goals: C. Smith 3) def. Wests Tigers 16 (Tries: Moodie, Harrison, Whatuira; Goals: Marshall 2) @ Olympic Park
ROUND 2: Storm 32 (Tries: White 2, Folau 2, Slater, Geyer; Goals: C. Smith 4) def. Raiders 16 (Tries: Carney, Graham, Best; Goals: Dobson 2) @ Canberra Stadium
ROUND 3: Storm 30 (Tries: Slater 2, Folau 2, Hoffman, King; Goals: C. Smith 3) def. Warriors 12 (Tries: Vatuvei, Rapira; Goals: Martin 2) @ Olympic Park
ROUND 4: Storm 22 (Tries: Folau 2, King, Quinn; Goals: C. Smith 3) def. Knights 12 (Tries: Simpson, Abraham; Goals: Gidley 2) @ EnergyAustralia Stadium
ROUND 5: Storm 24 (Tries: Turner 2, Quinn, Folau, King; Goals: C. Smith, Turner) def. Dragons 10 (Tries: Morris, Naiqama; Goal: Naiqama) @ Oki Jubilee Stadium
ROUND 6: Storm 30 (Tries: Cronk 2, C. Smith 2, Hoffman; Goals: C. Smith 5) def. Panthers 20 (Tries: Lewis, Pritchard, Jennings; Goals: Gordon 4) @ Olympic Park
ROUND 7: Storm 28 (Tries: Slater 2, Turner, Hoffman, Folau; Goals: C. Smith 4) def. Broncos 18 (Tries: Hannant, Stagg, Eastwood; Goals: Lockyer: 3) @ Suncorp Stadium
ROUND 8: Storm 12 (Tries: King, Johnson; Goals: C. Smith 2) def. by Tigers (Tries: Lawrence 2, Galea, Farah; Goals: Collis 7) @ Bluetongue Stadium
ROUND 9: Storm 38 (Tries: Cronk 2, King 2, Hoffman, Folau; Goals: C. Smith 7) def. Bulldogs 14 (Tries: El Masri, Maitua, Millard; Goals: 1) @ Olympic Park
ROUND 10: Storm 26 (Tries: Hoffman, Folau, Slater, Lima, Chambers; Goals: Turner 3) def. Roosters 2 (Goal: Fitzgibbon) @ Olympic Park
ROUND 11: Storm 12 (Tries: Folau, King; Goals: C. Smith 2) def. by Sea Eagles 13 (Tries: Watmough, Hicks; Goals: Lyon 2; Field Goal: Orford) @ Brookvale Oval
ROUND 12: Storm 26 (Tries: Turner, King, Geyer, Inglis; Goals: C. Smith 5) def. Rabbitohs 10 (Tries: Widders, Hegarty; Goal; Merritt) @ Olympic Park
ROUND 13: Storm 4 (Try: J. Smith) def Warriors 2 (Goal: Martin) @ Mt Smart Stadium
ROUND 14: Storm 58 (Tries: King 2, Inglis 2, Geyer, J. Smith, Newton, Cronk, Tagataese, Turner; Goals: C. Smith 9) @ Dairy Farmers' Stadium
ROUND 15: Storm 24 (Tries: King, Newton, Turner, Hoffman, Geyer; Goals: C. Smith 2) def. Dragons 6 (Try: Scott; Goal: Soward) @ Olympic Park
ROUND 16: BYE

2007 TRY SCORERS (STORM)
Folau 12, King 11, Slater 6, Hoffman 7, Turner 6, Cronk 5, Geyer 4, Inglis 3, J. Smith 3, Newton 3 (Newcastle 1), White 2, Quinn 2, C. Smith 2, Johnson, Chambers, Lima, Tagataese

2007 GOAL SCORERS (STORM)
C. Smith 50, Turner 4

2007 FIELD GOAL SCORERS (STORM)
N/A

2007 POINTSCORERS (STORM)
C. Smith 108, Folau 48, King 44, Turner 32, Hoffman 28, Slater 24, Cronk 20, Geyer 16, J. Smith 12, Inglis 12, Newton 12 (Newcastle 4), White 8, Quinn 8, Johnson 4, Chambers 4, Lima 4, Tagataese 4,

MELBOURNE STORM MEDIBANK PRIVATE INJURY UPDATE
Antonio Kaufusi: Season (Patella Tendon)
Danny Vaughan: Season (ACL)
Michael Crocker: 10 weeks (Shoulder)
Russell Aitken: 2 weeks (Hamstring)
Cooper Cronk: 1 week (Ankle)

THE STORM AHEAD
Round 18: Monday, July 16th v Knights @ Olympic Park, 7:00pm
Round 19: Saturday, July 21st v Raiders @ Olympic Park, 7:30pm
Round 20: Friday, July 27th v Roosters @ Aussie Stadium, 7:30pm
Round 21: Monday, August 6th v Sharks @ Toyota Park, 7:00pm
Round 22: Sunday, August 12th v Broncos @ Olympic Park, 3:00pm

2007 TELSTRA PREMIERSHIP LADDER
1. Storm 28
2. Sea Eagles 24
3. Eels 20
*4. Wests Tigers 20
5. Cowboys 20
*6. Broncos 18
*7. Titans 18
8. Sharks 16
9. Warriors 16
10. Bulldogs 16
11. Rabbitohs 16
12. Knights 16
13. Raiders 14
14. Dragons 12
15. Roosters 12
*15. Panthers 10
* Played last night.

SQUAD FOR SATURDAY'S GAME
Starting team:
1. Billy Slater
2. Matt Geyer
3. Matt King
4. Anthony Quinn
5. Steve Turner
6. Greg Inglis
7. James Aubusson
8. Ben Cross
9. Cam Smith
10. Brett White
11. Clint Newton
12. Ryan Hoffman
13. Dallas Johnson

Interchange:
14. Jeff Lima
15. Adam Blair
16. Jeremy Smith
17. Sam Tagataese

Coach: Craig Bellamy

News sent by: www.melbournestorm.com.au

Tue July 3, 2007
• Merritt returns from injury, Asotasi 100 NRL games
  
Tue July 3, 2007
• Slater back for Storm
  

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