Melbourne Storm were far too strong for Brisbane Broncos today, scoring eight tries to win 12-42 at Suncorp Stadium to maintain their place at the head of the Telstra Premiership.
The Broncos came into the game with Jonus Pearson replacing Corey Oates on the wing, and Alex Glenn starting in the second row with Sam Thaiday on the bench, while Herman Ese’ese dropped off the bench, to be replaced by Joe Ofahengaue.
Melbourne made two changes with Curtis Scott replacing Young Tonumaipea in the centres, while Slade Griffin dropped out of the side with Mark Nicholls coming on to the bench.
The Storm raced out to an early lead with tries to Suliasi Vunivalu, Josh Addo-Carr and Scottin the first 20 minutes, with captain Cameron Smith converting one try to give the Storm a 14-point lead.
The Broncos opened their score with a converted try by Ben Hunt, although Vunivalu’s second secured the Storm a 6-20 lead at half-time.
The gap was narrowed to eight points in the second half when David Mead sneaked over in the corner, with Jordan Kahu adding a fine conversion.
But the Storm replied with four more tries from Scott, Billy Slater, Smith and Addo-Carr to earn yet another convincing victory against the Broncos at Suncorp.
Broncos: 1 Jordan Kahu, 21 Jonus Pearson, 3 James Roberts, 4 Tautau Moga, 5 David Mead, 6 Benji Marshall, 17 Ben Hunt, 8 Korbin Sims, 9 Andrew McCullough, 10 Adam Blair (c), 14 Alex Glenn, 12 Matt Gillett, 13 Josh McGuire; Interchange: 7 Kodi Nikorima, 11 Sam Thaiday, 15 Tevita Pangai Jnr, 18 Joe Ofahengaue
Storm: 1 Billy Slater, 2 Suliasi Vunivalu, 3 Will Chambers, 20 Curtis Scott, 5 Josh Addo-Carr, 6 Cameron Munster, 7 Cooper Cronk, 8 Jesse Bromwich, 9 Cameron Smith (c), 10 Tim Glasby, 11 Felise Kaufusi, 12 Tohu Harris, 13 Dale Finucane; Interchange: 14 Nelson Asofa-Solomona, 16 Kenny Bromwich, 17 Joe Stimson, 18 Mark Nicholls,
Full coverage of all the weekend’s NRL action can be found in Monday’s edition of League Express, available in the shops and online.
