Parramatta Eels vs Melbourne Storm: Harry Grant the hero in golden point as Melbourne extend round one record
Harry Grant #HarryGrant
Will Craig Bellamy and Melbourne Storm’s love affair with the opening round of the NRL season continue when they travel to face Parramatta on Thursday night, or will it finally be brought to an end?
The visitors haven’t lost a round one match since Bellamy took charge over two decades ago. In fact, you have to go all the way back to 2001 to find an opening day defeat to Canterbury for the Victorians.
It’s an incredible record, but it’s on shaky ground with a whole host of experienced forwards departing the club and leaving them light up front and in somewhat of a transition period.
The Eels will be eager to go one better having been beaten in the grand final by their arch-rivals Penrith last year.
Brad Arthur has also seen a significant talent drain from his team along with having to deal with a number of injuries and suspensions to start the campaign.
Although Parramatta have a great recent record against Bellamy’s troops, winning their past four matchups against them. So, they should enter into their clash at CommBank Stadium full of confidence.
The Sporting News is providing all the latest updates from the blockbuster clash to kick off the new NRL season.
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Live Score – Golden point Parramatta Eels 12 Melbourne Storm 12 Parramatta Eels vs Melbourne Storm live blog, updates and highlights
80 mins: Munster with a field goal attempt to win it- not even close. Moses bombs away from 40m and then madness ensues as the Storm try to keep it alive. Eventually they get tackled and we’re going into golden point.
79 mins: Melbourne have two great carries in behind the ruck and with a bit of momentum look to be getting on a roll. Hodgson is adjudged to kick the ball in the ruck and it’s a penalty to the Storm with a minute left.
78 mins: Munster goes for the low percentage play with a kick for himself on halfway and turns the ball over. Eels bomb the opportunity when Cartwright drops it on the left.
77 mins: Storm drop the ball again and gift Parra another go from an identical position. They don’t shift it left on play one this time. Moses goes for the one-pointer but it gets charged down and Katoa picks up the scraps. They survive, just.
75 mins: Wishart spills a Moses kick gifting Parra great field position with five minutes to do. They set a midfield scrum and shift it left. Sivo grubbers for himself and kicks it dead on play one!
74 mins: Field goal territory for both sides now.
70 mins: Penisini off for a HIA after colliding with Munster- that’s Parramatta’s right winger and centre both off for the final 10 minutes.
68 mins: Hughes bombs one into the corner and Sivo slips into a bit of volleyball play with a spike beyond the in-goal. For once, a repeat set actually happens as Gutherson can’t get the ball back for his side. Great field position for Melbourne, until Meaney drops the ball.
67 mins: It’s a bloodbath after Lumelume and Tonumaipea clash heads. Halt in play as the trainer attends to the Storm man. The Eels’ winger also comes off.
66 mins: Moses crunched in the process of kicking but Klein waves play on. He doesn’t when Wishart returns though after he’s collected high. Penalty Melbourne. Jirah Momoisea, who has just come on, goes on report.
TRY: The Storm have a whole set in the 10m zone but they need just one play! Munster passes to himself off the scrum with a number of Eels players buying the dummy. His sleight of hand allows Young Tonumaipea to creep in the corner.
Meaney nails the sideline conversion. 12-10.
NO TRY: Nelson thinks he’s got Melbourne square after he levels Lumelume on his own try line. There’s a knock-on though, with Klein sending it up as a ‘no try’.
62 mins: Left shoulder injury for Coates, as the winger leaves the field in pain. Wishart on the wing as his replacement and Moses immediately launches a kick his way.
TRY: It proves to be a big play too with Hodgson slicing through Melbourne’s defence before giving Paulo a 10m gallop to the line. The big man just about gets there with two defenders hanging off him. Poor from Munster who jumped out of the line to gift the space. Parramatta 12-6.
58 mins: A shift to the right puts Meaney into space as he tries to get Warbrick away down the touchline, Parramatta’s defence scrambles well though to avert the danger.
Meanwhile, Nelson smashes Cartwright this time in Parramatta’s next set.
Sivo gives Hughes similar treatment as he flings him over the sideline. Parra ball inside the Storm’s half.
55 mins: The big boys have all come back on with Nelson swatting away a defender during a particularly aggressive run. He then goes after Gutherson in defence with the intensity lifting.
50 mins: Grant a lot more prominent now- poking around the ruck and attempting to get his pack on a roll. Melbourne well on top out of nowhere.
TRY: That man Grant is the architect behind Storm’s try- he slings a pass out to King from a loose ruck, and the lock hits and spins before finding Meaney with an offload. The fullback slots the conversion and we’re all tied up.
48 mins: And another one. Grant catches the markers not square and the Storm are suddenly deep inside Eels territory. That was Grant’s second run of the match.
45 mins: Doorey spills a Moses pass but Klein blows for a penalty after the backrower was slightly clipped in the head. Melbourne aren’t happy about the call. But it gives Parra prime attacking opportunity 20m or so out.
Gutho tries to thread a kick into the in-goal but Grant is there to clean it up. He cops a high tackle from Brown for his trouble and now Melbourne have a penalty.
40 mins: We’re back underway with Munster reportedly having suffered a compound dislocation rather than a fracture. Bit of tape and he’s good as gold.
HT stats: Parramatta have enjoyed 56% of the ball while completing 17 of their 22 sets. The Eels have also made more errors – seven to the Storm’s five – in the first half.
Somewhat surprisingly the Storm have made more run metres – 808 to 797.
19 tackle busts to 7 to the Eels who have looked more dangerous with the ball than their opponents.
BIG news out of the sheds at half-time:
HT: Moses goes for a two-point field goal but sprays it wide and that’s all she wrote for the first half of the first game of the season. 6-0 Parramatta at the break.
39 mins: Moses throws a forward pass working out of territory to gift the Storm possession inside the 30m zone. Hughes orchestrates a raid down the right, but his cut-out pass almost leads to an interception from Sivo.
The Fijian can’t keep hold of it and it’s back to six for Melbourne.
Hughes tries to get to the line himself stepping around three defenders but then the Storm put the ball down once again. Someone check on Bellamy.
35 mins: Big job on Hughes’ hands now with Munster out of action. He fires in a captain’s challenge after claiming the Eels knocked on before he did, however he’s unsuccessful.
6-0: Moses swings the conversion attempt from the touchline and lets his frustration show.
Parra well on top, winning the yardage battle and making less errors coming off their own line.
Compound fracture for Munster is the early diagnosis from the sheds.
Meanwhile, in other injury news:
TRY: Storm once again come up with an error coming out of territory- can only imagine what Bellamy thinks of this.
Or when Penisini waltzes in for the first four-pointer of the game and season. Hodgson fired it out to Gutho on the outside of the right edge who then stepped and handed it to his centre to do the rest.
29 mins: Moses gets another penalty after McDonald is adjudged to have hit him late. But they don’t take the two on offer in front of the posts. Gutherson probably wishes they did after he gets nailed in the ribs from a Munster tackle.
Although it is actually the Storm five-eighth who reels out of the contact clutching his hand. He leaves the field with a trainer in major news for Melbourne.
26 mins: The sides finally get into somewhat of an arm wrestle, trading set for set.
After about 50 offloads from Melbourne to get themselves into attacking position, Grant kicks into the in-goal to get a repeat set. Parra’s short drop-out is successful though.
21 mins: Grant looks for a crash play under the posts for Welch but the defence was ready for it, shutting down the Storm captain and regaining possession. They then march up the field, but a nice return from Coates on play two helps get his team out of trouble.
18 mins: Parra think they’re in for the first try of the season, but Sivo’s joy is cut short after Brown’s pass is called forward. Melbourne are then given a penalty on play one.
16 mins: Munster isn’t having any of it though as he goes short and gets the ball back for his side. Grant then drops his lollies though inviting Parra right back onto them.
15 mins: Storm get a penalty out of territory but Nelson makes an error at the play-the-ball to kill the momentum dead. To compound the error, the Storm give away a six-again. Hogson’s neat little kick into the in-goal gains a repeat set.
12 mins: Melbourne hit back straight away with Coates streaking down the touchline- but his kick has too much cheese on it and it goes dead. The customary cut to Craig Bellamy in the box shows him raging.
10 mins: Attacking set almost yields immediate results for the Eels with Doorey being turned inside. The Storm scramble well in defence though to chop him down and do well on the next two tackles as the ball is shifted from one side of the field to the other.
8mins: Grant goes for a 40/20 after rolling through the middle of the Eels- Gutherson gets to it though. The pressure is then relieved with a penalty awarded to the Eels.
Goal: Parramatta elect to take the two points on offer with Moses slotting it over from 20m out.
4 mins: Munster gets stripped one-on-one by Hogson on the halfway line, but Brown puts down a pass from the resulting set.
Ashley Klein offers a reprieve though with Katoa smashing into Moses late. He’s on report and the Eels have a chance to register the first points of the new season with a penalty.
2 min: Welch eases into his first game back from injury with two carries in the set as Melbourne work through the middle. The Eels settle into the game with a similar set.
8pm: We’re underway in the opening game of the new season between the Eels and Storm!
7.45pm: Still no news about a contract being signed yet by Mitch Moses, but the Parramatta halfback is being backed for a big year.
Pre-match: Hello and welcome to The Sporting News’ live coverage of the opening round clash between Parramatta and Melbourne. Kick-off is scheduled for 8pm AEDT.
Team News Eels confirmed team:
1. Clint Gutherson
2. Maika Sivo
3. Will Penisini
4. Waqa Blake
22. Isaac Lumelume
6. Dylan Brown
7. Mitchell Moses
8. Reagan Campbell-Gillard
9. Josh Hodgson
10. Junior Paulo
11. Bryce Cartwright
12. Matt Doorey
13. J’maine Hopgood
14. Jirah Momoisea
15. Jack Murchie
16. Wiremu Greig
17. Makahesi Makatoa
18. Jake Arthur
Eels team news:
Bryce Cartwright and Matt Doorey have been named on the edges to replace Isaiah Papali’i and Shaun Lane (jaw), while J’maine Hopgood starts at lock in place of Ryan Matterson (suspension) in an all-new back row for the Eels.
Former Canberra captain Josh Hodgson replaces Reed Mahoney at hooker, while there are places on the bench for fellow new recruits Jack Murchie and Jirah Momoisea.
Bailey Simonsson (shoulder) was initially named in the side on Tuesday but has been replaced by Isaac Lumelume 24 hours prior to kickoff.
Storm confirmed team:
1. Nick Meaney
2. Will Warbrick
3. Reimis Smith
4. Young Tonumaipea
5. Xavier Coates
6. Cameron Munster
7. Jahrome Hughes
8. Nelson Asofa-Solomona
9. Harry Grant
10. Christian Welch
11. Trent Loiero
12. Eliesa Katoa
13. Josh King
14. Tyran Wishart
15. Alec MacDonald
17. Jordan Grant
19. Bronson Garlick
16. Chris Lewis
Storm team news:
The nucleus of the side remains the same, but the loss of the majority of the Storm’s experienced forward pack will leave a big hole.
Craig Bellamy has opted to hand new signing Eliesa Katoa a starting spot in the backrow with Trent Loiero named on the opposite edge. Josh King takes over at lock after the exit of Brandon Smith.
Will Warbrick’s strong form in the trials has been rewarded with a start on the wing, while Young Tonumaipea claims a spot in the centres in place of Justin Olam who suffered a broken arm in the trials.
Ryan Papenhuyzen (knee) is joined on the sidelines by experienced trio Tariq Sims (calf), Tepai Moeroa (toe) and Tui Kamikamica (tendon).
Bronson Garlick is set to make his NRL debut after being a late addition to the bench. Chris Lewis drops back to 18th man.