The conditions were appalling, but the aptly named Melbourne Storm ignored the torrential rain in Auckland and relentlessly attacked the line to come away with an impressive road victory over Warriors.
With the downpour having begun early in the day, the field was virtually under water by kick-off time, but the Storm backed their ball skills and were rewarded with a 26-10 win.
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Storm beat the Warriors
The Storm maintain their 100% start to the season with a win in wet conditions.
In the process, captain Cameron Smith passed 2000 NRL points, while Kenny Bromwich, Cheyse Blair, Suliasi Vunivalu and Cooper Cronk all crossed the stripe.
The Storm's forwards were exceptional for the second straight week, despite missing some key players, with Jordan McLean, Christian Welch, Dale Finucane and Felise Kaufusi all showing they had earned their starting roles.
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Warriors coach Stephen Kearney wasn't too downhearted at losing to the team where he was once an assistant coach. "For me, it's a wonderful lesson to come up against a side like Melbourne and they're a benchmark of the competition," Kearney said.
"They taught us a fair few lessons, but I thought there were some encouraging signs, but there were moments in the game where I thought some of our younger players stepped away from them.
"I was encouraged by some signs, but it just goes to show we've got a fair way to go."
For the Storm, it was a masterclass of playing to the conditions, as they did last weekend in their 12-6 win over the Bulldogs and their coach Craig Bellamy felt they deserved to come away from this trans-Tasman trip with two points.
"In the first half we could have been and should have been a bit more in front, but we weren't," Bellamy said.
"I made that point to the players at half-time, they were putting in a whole heap of effort and some good effort and we needed to keep that going.
"In the second half we did. To the Warriors' credit, we scored just after half-time there and it was 18-10, but they had a really good period there for 10 to 15 minutes and we were under a fair bit of pressure.
"But our guys kept gritting their teeth and making their tackles. We got the result we probably deserved in the end."
The Storm went ahead on seven minutes after Cronk put up a kick that landed perfectly for second-rower Kenny Bromwich to score.
The Storm then looked to have scored a second try just minutes later but Cameron Munster was ruled offside.
That decision hurt even more when the Warriors opened their account with David Fusitua knocking down a high ball to Shaun Johnson, whose pass put the dangerous Tuimoala Lolohea in for the try. Johnson converted from the sideline to make it 6-6 on 15 minutes.
A handling error from Josh Addo-Carr inside the Storm's defensive half was all the home side needed to move ahead, as they quickly moved the ball to the right then had Johnson break down the defence with numbers on his outside to score the second try. Johnson missed the kick, however, leaving the score 10-6.
With the ground heavy, Cronk's left-foot grubber fooled Lolohea on the Warriors' line and Cheyse Blair was the first to touch the ball down, scoring his second try in two games. Smith converted to put Melbourne in front 12-10 on 25 minutes and in the process passed the 2000-point mark in NRL play.
The Storm didn't score after Addo-Carr was sprung free down the left side but his inside pass to Blair resulted in the Warriors' losing fullback Roger Tuivasa-Shreck, whose head collided with Blair's leg as he attempted the tackle.
It left him wobbling and needing a concussion test - and he did not return.
Vunivalu looked certain to score on the right just before half-time but his Warriors' markers dragged him across touch to leave the Storm up 12-10 at the break.
The Fijian winger was busy from the opening of the second half, drawing a penalty and then entering the scoresheet minutes later after Cronk and Munster created an opening for him to score in the right corner.
The Storm were denied another try on 57 minutes when Ryley Jacks set up Addo-Carr but the video review picked up an earlier dummy run from Felise Kaufusi that was ruled to have disadvantaged the Warriors' defence.
A penalty incurred by former Storm forward Ryan Hoffman saw Smith choose to kick for goal, extending the lead to 20-10 on 63 minutes.
Munster and Cronk teamed up again to score the finishing try, with the little halfback crossing with just minutes left.
With David Long
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