Nelson Asofa-Solomona has shown why he’s in demand with the Storm giant turning the Anzac Day clash Melbourne’s way in his first game back from injury.
Taking on the Warriors in their annual fixture at AAMI Park, Storm surged home to secure a thrilling 30-22 victory to stretch the winning streak over their trans-Tasman rivals to 14 games.
The match was in the balance until star Storm hooker Harry Grant muscled over the line with four minutes remaining.
The Warriors loss was compounded by another knee injury to skipper Tohu Harris, who was assisted from the ground late in the first half.
They finished without any players on the bench, losing Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad and Bayley Sironen to head knocks and Jazz Tevaga to a possible achilles injury.
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The Warriors started strong, quickly erasing memories of last year’s 60-point horror show to lead 18-6 with Jackson Ford, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Addin Fonua-Blake finding gaping holes in the Storm defence.
But the game changed in the 21st minute with prop Asofa-Solomona coming off the bench in his first match since suffering a knee injury in round two.
He immediately put the home side on the front foot with a series of barn-storming runs, the type that caught the eye of Wallabies coach Eddie Jones who is hoping to convince him to swap codes.
Also in the sights of the big-spending Dolphins, the Kiwi international finished with 148-run metres from 14 runs and 20 tackles in his 59 minutes.
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Cameron Munster, who booted a brilliant 40-20 to set up Storm’s first try scored by Justin Olam, then dived over himself in the 34th minute to close the gap to 18-12.
Warriors playmaker Dylan Walker was sin-binned and put on report for an alleged high shot that saw Storm back-rower Eli Katoa fail a HIA.
Despite being down a man the Warriors were first to score in the second half when Watene-Zelezniak collected his second, but that was all the visitors had to celebrate.
With the Warriors down on troops, Storm roared back with fullback Nick Meaney taking full advantage of two kicks into the in-goal before Grant iced the win.
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-AAP
