NRL 2020: Cameron Munster brutal injury blow in Storm win over Bulldogs

A week after Cameron Smith’s setback, another injury has left the Storm vulnerable. But one commentator has described the Bulldogs effort as a “debacle”.

The Storm didn’t slow down after the injury.

The Melbourne Storm claimed a comprehensive 41-10 win over the Canterbury Bulldogs but the side suffered a huge blow with five-eighth Cameron Munster going down with an injury.

Leading 23-4 at the break, the Storm conceded the first try with the Bulldogs keeping in the game by scoring early in the second half.

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But with 30 minutes remaining, Munster went through a rough patch, starting with a high tackle that saw the Bulldogs’ Lachlan Lewis sent to the sin bin.

Coming fresh off Jack Hetherington’s high tackle sin bin on Friday night, the commentators were quick to suggest that it wasn’t as bad as the Warriors enforcer’s high shot.

“He’s looking at the football, initial contact with the chest and it then crept up around the jaw,” Alexander said in commentary.

Munster took a moment to recover with the referee sin binning Lachlan Lewis for “serious foul play”, official Peter Gough explained.

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It was the start of a rough few minutes for Munster.

Just three minutes later, Munster was laid out with a knee injury, seemingly a recurrence of his issue that laid him out earlier in the season.

Munster had almost made a break but Bulldog Josh Jackson caught him and dragged him down with his heavily strapped right knee slamming into the turf again.

The Queensland and Australian half was in a lot of pain at the time.

Munster was assisted from the field and it appears as though he will spend a few more weeks on the sideline.

Report from sideline confirms suspected MCL sprain for Munster, early thoughts from the Storm is 2-3 week recovery. Good signs no mention of ACL, as this is easy to rule out for medical staff. Wouldn’t be surprised to see 3+ weeks considering likely moderate sprain + reinjury

— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) August 8, 2020

Cooper Cronk said post match it was like “a scary movie”, but Munster laughed it off.

“Probably a grade two carry-on to be honest,” he said. “Probably two or three weeks, I obviously had a medial with this same knee, fell awkwardly with Josh Jackson but that‘s football.”

He admitted he was more disappointed that he wouldn‘t get to play the Roosters on Friday night.

It appeared as though at 23-10 with 26 minutes remaining and no Cameron Smith, Ryan Papenhuyzen rested and Munster injured that the door may have been opened for Canterbury to challenge for a shock upset.

Another tough blow for Cameron Munster and the Storm.

But the Storm quickly slammed it shut, with Suliasi Vunivalu pouncing on a mistake and running away with an 80m effort, before Kenny Bromwich scored his second to slam the door shut within seven minute of the injury.

The NRL physio said he was concerned by the MCL sprain and predicted it would likely be two to three weeks’ recovery but wouldn’t be surprised if Munster was sidelined for longer.

Alexander agreed he might be out for a bit longer.

“A couple of weeks would be a fantastic result but having done that knee, the same thing, only a few weeks ago,” he said to vision of Munster on the bench.

As Alexander was speaking, the Bulldogs’ kick-off sailed out on the full.

“Was it 10 minutes ago that it was 23-10 and the Bulldogs on the attack, a chance of scoring a try to reduce it to just over a converted try ball game, and in that space, it’s turned into a debacle for them,” Alexander said.

“Kicking it out on the full after just giving up a try is just unforgivable.”

The Bulldogs didn‘t go close to scoring but the Storm sealed it with a late try as Josh Addo-Carr scored within the final moment as Jahrome Huges kicked from a scrum with the Storm flyer completing the 70m play.

“Outrageous,” Dan Ginnane said in commentary, with the referee seemingly disbelieving of Addo-Carr’s speed to win the race.

Munster’s injury left the door open but the Bulldogs couldn’t pull it off.