League: Storm blown away by Johns

Knights 37 Storm 18

Hurricane Andrew - soon due to wreak havoc in the United Kingdom - proved too much for the Melbourne Storm as the Newcastle Knights produced a display which made a mockery of the two teams' positions in the ladder.

An oddly becalmed Storm looked bemused as Andrew Johns dumbfounded them with two pieces of kick trickery to build a 12-0 lead after eight minutes.

Johns, the dominant influence in this year's State of Origin and who will take a short-term contract to play upto six games for UK Super League Club Warrington at the end of the NRL season, finished up with 17 points from the match.

The words 'Johns' and 'genius' have been linked in many rugby league sentences this year and it was his two clever kicks in the first few minutes that set the pattern for the match and snuffed out the Storm's chances.

First, his bomb was mis-handled and Johns himself skirted around Storm prop Robbie Kearns for a try under the bar.

A few minutes later, a Johns banana kick slipped off the post past defenders who looked more like banana trees for hooker Danny Buderus to dive for the try.

The Knights would have gallopped further ahead had fullback David Seage been able to ground the ball in a tackle when over the line.

However, that was a signal for the Storm to generate some of their own electricity at last. They twice came close to tries, with Kearns being whistled back for a forward pass.

But it was a only a break in the weather for the Storm and the Knights resumed their deluge of tries when -inevitably - Johns set it up with some acceleration and a perfect gap pass to put big Josh Perry over for an 18-0 lead.

The Storm, third on the ladder at the start of the game, looked decidely inferior to the bottom-placed Knights, who have now won four out of their last six games. While the Knights are too far behind to make the top eight, they are finding form at the right time to help teams like the Warriors in the crowded race for the top eight.

They play the Bulldogs and the Sharks, both teams the Warriors would like to lose.

That's the good news. The bad news is the Knights are also due to play the Warriors at Ericsson on August 20 and they will be hard to beat on this form.

Billy Slater - who otherwise had a curiously error-strewn game - hit back with a try to the Storm just before halftime, after an inside pass, for an 18-6 scoreline but Hurricane Johns hadn't run out of puff yet. A field goal on the run bounced off the crossbar and over for a 19-6 lead at halftime.

However, the Storm struck first after halftime as some lackadaisical Knights defence saw Dennis Scott stroll over - before two fine passes by Johns and Dustin Cooper sent winger Trent Salkeld over for his ninth try of the season.

The match was almost in its last quarter before the Knights scored a try that didn't have anything to do with Johns.

A Storm attack broke down deep in Knights' territory, cool-headed Clint Newton picked up and rumbled down field and passed to Anthony Quinn, who outpaced the cover to score and take Newcastle to 31-12.

The Storm, to their credit, tried hard after that and a dubious video referee decision ruled out a second Slater try after the ball appeared to have bounced off George Carmont from a Matt Orford bomb.

Insult was added to injury when, a minute later, Slater bumbled a bouncing ball from a Matt Gidley kick, Johns gathered and Buderus bounded over for the try.

Melbourne came back with a try to Cooper Cronk but this storm was shot, overshadowed by Hurricane Andrew.

Knights 37 (A. Johns, D. Buderus 2, J. Perry, T. Salkeld, A. Quinn tries; Johns 6 goals, field goal)
Storm 18 (B. Slater, D. Scott, C. Cronk, tries; C. Smith two goals)