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AAP | 17/05/08 | 0
AUDIO - Nathan Brown: 'It was good to get some points on the board'
AUDIO - Cooper Cronk: 'We lacked discipline'
Re-signed five-eighth Jamie Soward led St George Illawarra to a drought-breaking and historic 36-12 victory over NRL premiers Melbourne at ANZ Stadium tonight.
The Dragons third win of the season, in front of just 6881 spectators, was their first victory ever over the Storm in Sydney and their first in their past eight games against Melbourne.
With the imposing figure of new signing Wendell Sailor looming large, the Dragons backs responded by scoring all of their six tries.
Soward who earlier this week re-signed to the end of the 2010 season, had an influential hand or foot in all the Dragons tries.
His kicks set up the first two tries to winger Jason Nightingale and fullback Josh Morris and he threw the final pass to fullback Brett Morris for the third just after halftime.
He threw the penultimate pass for the fourth notched by winger Michael Lett, scored the fifth himself and threw the final pass for Nightingale's second and the Dragons last five-pointer.
Soward usually plays at halfback, but with Ben Hornby on Origin duty, he started at five-eighth for just the second time this season.
He kicked six goals from eight attempts to finish with a personal tally of 14 points.
Even the late inclusion of NZ Test forward Jeff Lima, couldn't boost Melbourne, who were missing nine Origin representatives.
Storm forward Jeremy Smith posted the first points of the game through a sixth minute penalty, but the Soward-inspired Dragons subsequently dominated and led 14-2 at halftime against the youthful Storm.
Centre Chambers scored a try in the 45th minute to cut the deficit to eight points, but that was as close as the Storm got, though Sika Manu scored a late four-pointer.
After the opening points from Smith, Soward squared the ledger with a 24-metre penalty in the 14th minute and his side hit the front with a well-executed try eight minutes later.
Soward's deft left-footed chip from 15 metres out caught the Storm defence short, with Nightingale rising unchallenged to take the ball and score a try in the left hand corner.
The Dragons five-eighth missed the conversion but boosted their advantage to 8-2 in the 27th minute by adding a penalty from a similar distance to the one he made earlier in the half.
Soward set up another try after Storm fullback Steve Turner fumbled a ball forward near his own 20.
From the ensuing scrum, Soward again spotted a gap in the Storm defence and Morris won the chase to his perfectly placed kick ahead of Melbourne winger Dane Nielsen.
After Chambers scored, the Dragons swiftly snuffed out any chance of a full scale revival, as Soward pulled the strings with aplomb.
His last three weeks have been his best three first grade games
Dragons coach Nathan Brown on the in-form Jamie Soward
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