Well Done Melbourne Storm - World Champions

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NRLandMore
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Well Done Melbourne Storm - World Champions

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LEEDS RHINOS (8) 14
Tries: Hall, Jones-Buchanan Goals: Sinfield 3
MELBOURNE STORM (8) 18
Tries: Slater, Bromwich, Harris Goals: Smith 3
Melbourne Storm won their third World Club Challenge title by beating reigning world champions Leeds Rhinos at Headingley.
The visitors' kicking game proved the difference with Cooper Cronk, Cameron Smith and Billy Slater all influential.
Tries by Slater, Jesse Bromwich, Tohu Harris and a six-point haul from Smith were enough to confirm victory.

Jamie Jones-Buchanan scores a try for Leeds
Ryan Hall and Jamie Jones-Buchanan crossed for Leeds, with Kevin Sinfield kicking three goals.
Missed chances proved costly for the hosts, but they played their part in a match which justified the pre-match hype.
With the ground packed to the rafters and a big-match atmosphere, it was clear to see why Leeds had again opted to host the fixture on home turf.
Talk prior to the match centred on the outlawing of the popular shoulder-charge, but the contact was no less savage for it as both defences tucked in with some meaty tackling.
Leeds spent much of their warm-up putting the three-quarter line and full-back under a succession of high-balls, but there was little the quintet could do to cope with the kicking of Smith and Cronk as they peppered the try-line.
Skipper Smith was at the heart of the early exchanges, and he opened the scoring with an easy penalty after Watkins had spilled a high bomb in front of the posts.
Storm extended their lead when Ryan Hoffman, a veteran of Headingley from his time with Wigan, crashed through a gap and slipped an inside ball to Slater who streaked home from close in.
The furious pace resulted in some loose handling, notably from Rhinos' usually reliable Danny McGuire and Rob Burrow, while Hall and Joel Moon were both unlucky to be denied out wide as Melbourne stood firm.
Last five World Club Challenges
2012 - Leeds 26-12 Manly
2011 - Wigan 15-21 St George Illawarra
2010 - Leeds 10-18 Melbourne
2009 - Leeds 20-28 Manly
2008 - Leeds 11-4 Melbourne
Brian McDermott's side eventually found a way through when repeat sets gave Rhinos field position and a slick move from right to left found England international Hall with enough space to touch down on the whitewash.
Sinfield added the extras, and had the last say of the half when he swung his boot to level with a penalty.
Having earned the right to contest the World Club Challenge by virtue of their Super League success, Leeds were made to dig deep for the character and belief that has led them to consecutive titles as Melbourne opened up an early second-half lead.
Prop Bromwich showed nimble feet to pick his way through the blue and amber and just squeezed the ball onto the whitewash with momentum before another slick move from Storm saw Harris eventually run in.
Jones-Buchanan provided the route back into the match, but the score owed much to the ingenuity of Hall and Moon in keeping the ball alive on the last tackle after Sinfield's chip kick was pumped into the Melbourne 10.
Mahe Fonua was unfortunate to have his score chalked off when it was deemed the ball had gone forward in the build-up, and Gareth Widdop's double movement led to a similar outcome with minutes to play.
Rhinos poured forward as the clock ticked down, but a forward pass in a final minute flowing move summed up their fortunes as Melbourne followed up their 2010 success with victory in West Yorkshire.
VIEWS FROM THE DRESSING ROOM

Leeds Rhinos coach Brian McDermott said: "Melbourne are very good and they snuffed us out, but we don't like losing.
"The whole package was hard, it took so much out of us to try and break them down that we didn't take our chances at the other end.
"When you look at the tries we conceded they might look simple, but they are on the back of a lot of pressure we have soaked up.
"But this isn't a 'never mind' feeling and I don't feel like smiling. We're not far off one of the NRL's best teams but this will take a while to get over.
"It's not a two-day thing, we have plenty of bruised bodies in there as well as egos."
Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy said: "We didn't come here to treat this as a trial game, this was important to us.
"If we are going to come to England we want to win and I can't fault the players.
"We were here with the right attitude, they've not complained about the cold once or anything like that, and we know we have taken pride in our performance on behalf of the NRL."
TEAMS

Leeds: Watkins, Vickery, Ablett, Moon, Hall, Sinfield (c), McGuire, Leuluai, Burrow, Peacock, Ward, Delaney, Jones-Buchanan.
Replacements: Clarkson, Kirke, McShane, Achurch.
Melbourne: Slater, Fonua, O'Neill, Chambers, Waqa, Widdop, Cronk, J Bromwich, Smith (c), Norrie, Harris, Hoffman, Hinchcliffe.
Replacements: Ryles, Setu, Vave, Moors.
Attendance: 20,400
Referee: Ben Thaler (Wakefield)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-league/21532355

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dibo
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Re: Well Done Melbourne Storm - World Champions

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World Club Champions of a sport mostly played in two counties of one country and two states of another. That is actually more pathetic than the winners of the Superbowl calling themselves world champions.

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kilonewton
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Re: Well Done Melbourne Storm - World Champions

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I'm from Melbourne, my Dad was from Leeds, I live only 200 miles north of the venue.
This one passed me by....

NRLandMore
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Re: Well Done Melbourne Storm - World Champions

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dibo wrote:World Club Champions of a sport mostly played in two counties of one country and two states of another. That is actually more pathetic than the winners of the Superbowl calling themselves world champions.
Feller better now?

How insecure must you be to feel the need to insult a sport in such a manner?

I love your logic as well. A club from a sport played in two countries is more pathetic being titled the world champions than a club from another sport which is played in one country.

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dibo
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Re: Well Done Melbourne Storm - World Champions

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American football might only be (widely) played in one country but good luck ducking mentions of it pretty much anywhere in the Anglosphere.

Meanwhile the Melburnian of Yorkshire stock who lives 300km from the ground didn't know this was on. I had no idea it was on til I heard the score on ABC radio.

It's a non-event. I'm not bagging the sport, I'm bagging that game.

I'm a league fan, I go to see my Dragons from time to time and I catch the odd Jets game (which makes me a more active NRL supporter than most, it seems) but I think it's fanciful to pretend there's anything particularly international about it and to have a World Club Championship is laughable.

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cam
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Re: Well Done Melbourne Storm - World Champions

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Go Storm.

Why wasn't the game played at Elland Road this time?

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Simmo79
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Re: Well Done Melbourne Storm - World Champions

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Were LUFC at home that day? May not have been available. Or it was too expensive to hire for the crowd they were expecting.

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Re: Well Done Melbourne Storm - World Champions

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dibo wrote:American football might only be (widely) played in one country but good luck ducking mentions of it pretty much anywhere in the Anglosphere.

Meanwhile the Melburnian of Yorkshire stock who lives 300km from the ground didn't know this was on. I had no idea it was on til I heard the score on ABC radio.

It's a non-event. I'm not bagging the sport, I'm bagging that game.

I'm a league fan, I go to see my Dragons from time to time and I catch the odd Jets game (which makes me a more active NRL supporter than most, it seems) but I think it's fanciful to pretend there's anything particularly international about it and to have a World Club Championship is laughable.
While the WCC may not have as high profile as some other Rugby League matches, it's importance and stature is growing year on year. NRL clubs now take the game seriously instead of a trial and slowly in Australia the tide is turning that way as well.

The match itself rated well Live on a Digital channel at what is an ungodly hour for a weekend.

I'm not sure what a Melburnian is, however one guy who happens to live near the game not knowing it was on counts for nothing. I. along with many other sports fan in this country do not know when the A-League Grand Final is played, as it happens there is potential it could be played 5 minutes away from me. That is not to say that it is not growing or that it is not an event.

If you think its somehow fanciful, good for you remain an old fashion supporter, I think it highlights something our game has that not a lot of others sports do (some do). It may not be the biggest Rugby League event annually, but it's definitely worth having as it is currently growing and a lot of people get excited & enjoy it.

And with American Football, it's constantly gets mentioned in Australian media especially around the business end of the season and makes big news in the UK during the international series while possibly obtaining the biggest annual sporting event in the world each year which receives wide publicity around the globe.
cam wrote:Go Storm.

Why wasn't the game played at Elland Road this time?
Leeds wanted to play the game in front of a packed home crowd, they could of got over 10,000 more at Elland Road and made more money but decided some things are more important than money.

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the crow
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Re: Well Done Melbourne Storm - World Champions

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Why don't they have it in Australia every second year?

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Re: Well Done Melbourne Storm - World Champions

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It's been held in Europe for its majority. However there are plans to play it in Australia next year and expand the number of teams in the competition after that.

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