Round 7
North Queensland Cowboys 10 l. Melbourne Storm 12

2008 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

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

Storm win thriller in Townsville
Sun April 27, 2008
Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au

Melbourne Storm has ground out a tough 12-10 win over the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville, in front of 24,053 fans.

Melbourne's second halves have been superb for 18 months, and tonight was no exception after leading 6-0 at the break. After leading at half-time the Storm has not lost in their past 27 games.

The win however came at a cost with star fullback Billy Slater going off in the 22nd minute after copping a cut below the eye courtesy of a stray Johnathan Thurston hand across the face. He didn't return to the field.

However, Slater played his part while he was out there. In the 7th min Slater picked up the ball five metres from his own try-line. In the blink of an eye, Slater had run 80 metres before being cut down with the try-line in sight. A couple of plays later Greg Inglis shrugged off Cowboys five-eighth Justin Smith to score the opening try. Cam Smith made no mistake with the conversion.

Four minutes later Inglis was over again, only this time the video referee intervened ruling Antonio Kaufusi had interfered with North Queensland fullback Matt Bowen while he was trying to gather the ball.

Apart from Slater's injury, the remainder of the first-half remained incident free.

The second-half started well for the Cowboys.

Winger John Williams scored the first of his two tries for the night after 51 minutes, scoring in the corner after a sweeping move across the field on the last tackle.

Israel Folau showed what a talent he is when given the ball nine metres out from Michael Crocker. Three Cowboys attempted to tackle the giant centre, but only succeeded in being dragged over the try-line, stretching the Storm's lead to 12-4 after Cam Smith's conversion.

Williams then scored his second of the night to set up a nail-biting finish for both sets of fans. After the Storm conceded an offside penalty 10 metres from their own try-line giving the Cowboys another set of six, Williams scored in the corner after terrific build-up work from Thurston and co.

The last 10 minutes was heart stopping, edge of the seat action, but no matter what North Queensland threw at the Storm, they couldn't breach the best defence in the competition and the Storm ran out very worthy two point winners.

STORM 12 (Tries: Inglis, Folau; Goals: C. Smith 2) def. COWBOYS 10 (Tries: Williams 2; Goals: Thurston) at Dairy Farmer's Stadium.

News sent by: www.melbournestorm.com.au


Storm Round 7 Game Notes v Cowboys
Fri April 25, 2008
Source: www.melbournestorm.com.au

After a sluggish opening half where the Storm went in at the half-time break 16-4 down, they showed why they're the reigning premiers with a scintillating second half, going on to win 23-16.

The win elevated the Storm up to 3rd on the NRL ladder.

The Cowboys were very impressive in their 48-20 win over the Warriors in Townsville, climbing to 10th on the ladder with their third win in a row.

WHO: Melbourne Storm v North Queensland Cowboys
WHAT: Round 7 of the 2008 Telstra Premiership season
WHERE: Dairy Farmer's Stadium, Townsville
WHEN: Saturday, April 26th @ 7:30pm
ON TV: Fox Sports 2 - 7:30pm
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

FAST FACTS
* Melbourne has won their past two games against North Queensland
* North Queensland has scored 102 points in their last three games
* Melbourne has lost three of their past four games in Townsville
* North Queensland has scored first in their past five games

DID YOU KNOW?
Storm stars Greg Inglis and Will Chambers flew across to Palm Island on Thursday to visit the Aboriginal communities and schools.

Needless to say they were a huge hit with the children and made a huge impression on everyone they met.

KEY MATCH UP
Billy Slater once again showed he is arguably the best player in the NRL at the moment with another classic performance. He ran for 230 metres, had three line breaks, scored a memorable try and played a key role in two others. His efforts, along with halfback Cooper Cronk, were the reason the Storm came away with the two points on Monday night.

While the Slater-Cronk partnership stole the show on Monday night, North Queensland's halfback-fullback combination has been working wonders for them for 18 months. Last year, Johnathan Thurston and Matt Bowen were electric together, forging a partnership no-one in the NRL could match. They combined for the first time this season last week and the results were undeniable. The Cowboys smashed the Warriors 48-20 with Thurston and Bowen at the heart of everything.

HEAD-TO-HEAD
Total: Played: 16, Storm: 11, Cowboys: 5
At Dairy Farmer's Stadium: Played: 9, Storm: 6, Cowboys: 3

FOR AND AGAINST 2008
Points for: Storm: 131, Cowboys: 136
Points against: Storm: 73, Cowboys: 152
Tries for: Storm: 23, Cowboys: 23
Points differential: Storm: +58, Cowboys: -16

LAST ROUND MATCHES
Storm def. Raiders 23-14 @ Canberra Stadium, Canberra
Cowboys def. Warriors 48-20 @ Dairy Farmer's Stadium

LAST EIGHT CLASHES
2007 Storm def. Cowboys 58-12 @ Dairy Farmer's Stadium
2006 Storm def. Cowboys 18-6 @ Olympic Park
2006 Cowboys def. Storm 40-8 @ Dairy Farmer's Stadium
2005 Cowboys def. Storm 24-16 @ Sydney Football Stadium
2005 Cowboys def. Storm 30-24 @ Dairy Farmer's Stadium
2004 Storm def. Cowboys 28-6 @ Olympic Park
2003 Storm def. Cowboys 22-16 @ Olympic Park
2003 Storm def. Cowboys 32-12 @ Dairy Farmer's Stadium

THE STORM STORY SO FAR
WORLD CLUB CHALLENGE: STORM 4 (Try: Hoffman) def. by RHINOS 11 (Try: Donald; Goals: Sinfield 3; Field Goal: Sinfield) @ Elland Road, Leeds
ROUND 1: STORM 32 (Tries: Slater 3, Johnson, Tagataese; Goals: C. Smith 5, Turner) def. WARRIORS 18 (Tries: Vatuvei 2, Ropati; Goals: Witt 3) @ Telstra Dome, Melbourne
ROUND 2: STORM 16 (Tries: Aitken, White, Falou; Goals: C. Smith 2) def. by SHARKS 17 (Tries: Kearney, Gallen, Simmons; Goals: Covell 2; Field Goals: Kimmorley) at Olympic Park, Melbourne
ROUND 3: Storm (Try: Slater; Goal: C. Smith) def. by ROOSTERS (Try: Kenny-Dowell; Goals: FitzGibbon 3) at Sydney Football Stadium
ROUND 4: STORM 28 (Tries: Quinn 3, Folau, Hoffman; Goals: Smith 4) def. BRONCOS 8 (Tries: Robinson, Stagg) at Olympic Park, Melbourne
ROUND 5: STORM 26 (Tries: Slater 2, Inglis, Quinn, Hoffman; Goals: Smith 3) def. SEA EAGLES 4 (Try: Barney) at Olympic Park
ROUND 6: STORM 23 (Tries: Chambers, Turner, Slater, Folau; Goals: C. Smith 3; Field Goal: Cronk) def. RAIDERS 16 (Tries: Best, Plum, Purtell; Goals: Carney 2) at Canberra Stadium

2008 TRY SCORERS (STORM)
Slater 7, Quinn 4, Folau 3, Hoffman 2, Johnson, Tagataese, Aitken, White, Inglis, Chambers, Turner

2008 GOAL SCORERS (STORM)
C. Smith 18, Turner

2008 FIELD GOAL SCORERS (STORM)
Cronk

2008 POINTSCORERS (STORM)
C Smith 36, Slater 28, Quinn 16, Folau 12, Hoffman 8, Turner 6, Johnson 4, Tagataese 4, Aitken 4, White 4, Inglis 4, Chambers 4

MELBOURNE STORM MEDIBANK PRIVATE INJURY UPDATE
Aidan Guerra (ankle): 5 weeks
Sika Manu (ankle): 2 weeks
Danny Vaughan (knee): season
Ben MacDougall (knee): season

THE STORM AHEAD
Round 8: BYE
Round 9: Monday, May 12th v Knights @ Olympic Park, 7:00pm
Round 10: Saturday, May 17th v Dragons @ ANZ Stadium, 7:30pm
Round 11: Saturday, May 24th v Rabbitohs @ Bluetongue Stadium, 7:30pm
Round 12: Saturday, May 31st v Bulldogs @ Olympic Park, 5:30pm
Round 13: Monday, June 9th v Titans @ Skilled Park, 7:00pm
Round 14: BYE
Round 15: Saturday, June 21st v Cowboys @ Olympic Park, 7:30pm
Round 16: Sunday, June 29th v Eels @ Parramatta Stadium, 3:00pm
Round 17: Sunday, July 6th v Raiders @ Olympic Park, 2:00pm

TELSTRA PREMIERSHIP LADDER
1. Gold Coast 1
2. Broncos 8
3. Storm 8
4. Roosters 8
5. Sharks 8
6. Sea Eagles 6
7. Knights 6
8. Wests Tigers 6
9. Bulldogs 6
10. Cowboys 6
11. Raiders 6
12. Panthers 6
13. Warriors 6
14. Eels 4
15. Dragons 2
16. Rabbitohs 0

SQUAD FOR SATURDAY'S GAME
Starting team:
1. Billy Slater
2. Steve Turner
3. Will Chambers
4. Israel Folau
5. Anthony Quinn
6. Greg Inglis
7. Cooper Cronk
8. Adam Blair
9. Cam Smith (c)
10. Brett White
11. Jeremy Smith
12. Ryan Hoffman
13. Dallas Johnson

Interchange:
14. Matt Geyer, 15. Antonio Kaufusi, 16. Michael Crocker, 17. Clifford Manua, 18. Aiden Tolman, 19. Sam Tagataese (one to be omitted)

Coach: Craig Bellamy

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