Saturday 2 February 2013 8:11 PM
Melbourne Storm has kicked off their 2013 pre-season with a 28-4 win against Queensland Cup outfit Easts Tigers on Saturday night.
Youngster Kirisome Auva’a finished the night with two tries as Melbourne’s young 22 man squad got the chance to impress on a sunny evening at Gosch’s Paddock.
Forward Tohu Harris opened the scoring early in the encounter during the 3rd minute of play. It came after the Tigers’ defence failed to deal with Kurt Mann’s high bomb, handing Melbourne a repeat set of six.
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Storm looked particularly dangerous down the left hand side of the park with Harris, stand-in fullback Matt Duffie and young flyer Kirisome Auva’a all making inroads on the wing.
New recruit Junior Moors was prominent during the first 20 minutes of play, and was instrumental in Melbourne’s attacking forays, as was NYC graduate Auva’a.
Auva’a scored the second try of the evening, opening up an eight-point lead to the hosts. Having made a break down the left hand side, Brett Finch and Maurice Blair combined to release Auva’a out on the left wing under heavy pressure from the Tigers defensive line.
Easts earned a reprieve midway through the first half, scoring their first try of the evening through Maeli Seve to reduce the Melbourne lead to four points.
From that point forward, Melbourne owned the majority of possession. With the Tigers struggling to get out of defence, the returning Duffie capitalized, scoring in the corner during the dying stages of the half.
Recap all the action from the trial match against Easts Tigers in our Live Chat here.
Melbourne began the second half as they did the first, extending their eight-point lead. New recruit Junior Sa’u scored in the 52nd minute after an enterprising piece of play down the left hand side whilst Auva’a crossed for his second of the evening, this time on the right.
With players on the park tiring during their first hit out of 2013, Melbourne still managed to finish the match strongly, two tries in the final 10 minutes of the clash meant Storm claimed a 24-point victory.
As is the case in pre-season encounters it will be the process showed by Melbourne rather than the result that will interest Craig Bellamy and his coaching staff the most.
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Storm ended the match with a vastly different lineup to which it started, with rotations aplenty throughout the second stanza.
Captain for the night, Brett Finch collected the annual Darren Bell Trophy awarded between the two sides. The Trophy was first played for last year.
Melbourne 28 – Easts Tigers 4
Melbourne 28
Tries: Auva’a 2, Harris, Duffie, Blair, Sa’u, Fonua
Easts Tigers 4
Tries: Seve
Watch how Brisbane Easts player Liam Tyson got the nickname 'Chopper' on his journey to the trial against Melbourne Storm. Hit PLAY below:
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