George Williams inspires Canberra to victory over Melbourne

George Williams stole the show as Canberra picked up a superb 22-6 victory over Melbourne.

Williams, playing in just his third NRL game since his move from Wigan, set-up two first-half tries and produced a second-half try-saver to earn rave reviews from across the game.

Jordan Rapana opened the scoring for the Green Machine in the third minute before Williams’ beautiful cut-out ball put Nick Cotric over in the corner.

Storm hit back through Dale Finucane in the 29th minute but Canberra were 18-6 ahead at half-time as Williams threw a dummy and sliced through the defence before putting Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad through under the posts.

Williams, who was trending second in the UK on Twitter during the game, smashed Ryan Papaenhuyzen early in the second-half and came up with a crucial try-saver on Nelson Asofa-Solomona soon after as Storm failed to find a way through the Green Machine defence.

Williams played a prominent role in the final try too, throwing a dummy and creating space for a break down the right before a kick in-field was grounded by Joseph Tapine.

Storm: Papenhuyzen, Vunivalu, Olam, Seve, Addo-Carr, Munster, Hughes, Bromwich, Smith, Asofa-Solomona, Kaufusi, Bromwich, Finucane. Subs: Smith, Faasuamaleaui, Welch, King.

Raiders: Nicoll-Klokstad, Cotric, Croker, Scott, Rapana, Wighton, Williams, Papalii, Hodgson, Lui, Tapine, Whitehead, Horsburgh. Subs: Havili, Guler, Soliola, Oldfield.