TAGO,LUAI FIRE AS PANTHERS SHOW CLASS IN COMEBACK WIN

Penrith weathered an early storm from Melbourne's big names to come from behind and record a 34-16 win at Marvel Stadium on Friday night. The Storm dominated for 32 minutes to set up a 14-0 lead before the defending premiers made a statement of their own with three tries in eight minutes to take a two-point advantage into half-time. It was a remarkable turnaround from the competition leaders during the match, who were without Nathan Cleary but had the likes of Origin stars Jarome Luai and Liam Martin stand up in his absence while Izack Tago was enormous in the win. Melbourne took a penalty goal early and then went up by eight when Harry Grant charged down a Jack Cogger kick to race to the line. Storm prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona then laid on a huge hit on Isaah Yeo before crossing in the 24th minute. Penrith appeared to have an almighty challenge ahead of them in the second half but a penalty try in their favour through Stephen Crichton - who was ruled to have been impeded by Nick Meaney - sparked a remarkable passage of play.

The visitors went the length of the field the following set to strike again through Tago before Martin dived over courtesy of some skill in the air by Scott Sorensen and Lindsay Smith to get the ball back to the representative forward. An early penalty goal to Melbourne after half-time levelled the scores but the Panthers regained the lead four minutes later when Tago steamrolled over Will Warbrick to split the Storm defenders to the line. Tago's collision with Warbrick saw the Storm winger ruled out for the remainder of the contest after failing a head injury assessment before the Panthers centre was again in the thick of the action to send Zac Hosking over through a grubber kick. An error to Nick Meaney on tackle one just as the Storm needed a chance to create some momentum summed up the evening for the home side as Craig Bellamy's looked off the pace late. Some light-foot stepping from Jarome Luai, who looked dangerous throughout the contest, set up Penrith's sixth of the evening when he laid on a kick for Brian To'o to go over next to the posts and ice a rare away victory in Victoria. Source:NRL.Com