Melbourne Storm thump Wests Tigers 66-16 as St George Illawarra, Newcastle get NRL wins

A string of injuries did not stop Melbourne Storm from thrashing the Wests Tigers 66-16 and reclaim the top spot on the NRL table last night.

Storm was reduced to 14 men for the final 20 minutes after Brandon Smith (corked calf), Reimis Smith (ankle sprain) and Tom Eisenhuth (dislocated elbow) went down with injuries.

There was more drama after forward Nelson Asofa-Solomona was sin-binned in the 66th minute for high contact.

But Storm kept rumbling along, notching their 12th straight win with a 12-tries-to-three thumping after leading 40-0 at half-time.

Storm leapfrogged the Penrith Panthers to reclaim the lead thanks to an NRL record 344 points differential after 15 rounds.

Wests Tigers coach Michael Maguire was so disgusted with his side at the half-time break after they leaked seven unanswered tries that he barely spoke with his players before storming out of the dressing room.

The Tigers at least showed some fight in the second half with Tommy Talau, Luke Garner and David Nofoaluma crossing for tries but it was too little, too late.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy also notched career win number 340, equalling Tim Sheens on second on the all-time list behind Wayne Bennett.

In other results of last night's matches, the St George Illawarra Dragons beat the Canberra Raiders 22-20 and the Newcastle Knights managed to get a 10-6 win against the Warriors.

The Paramatta Eels will meet the Bulldogs at 4 o'clock this afternoon while the Titans clash with the Sea Eagles at 6.05 tonight.

[Source - Abc.net.au]

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