A historic four-try haul to rookie Suliasi Vunivalu has fired Melbourne to a testy 38-18 victory over Manly, keeping them on track to claim the NRL minor premiership. Vunivalu's 30-minute quartet on Saturday evening lifted his tally to 21 in just 16 games, equalling the rookie record set by former Storm star and eventual dual-code international Israel Folau back in 2007. Melbourne prop Felise Kaufusi sealed victory with a try on fulltime, set up by Cooper Cronk's 25th try assist of the year, the most of any player in the NRL. Vunivalu became the first player to bag four in one half since former Sea Eagles winger David Williams did it in 2012, and just the sixth Storm player to achieve the feat. While Vunivalu scored the tries, Munster, Cronk and Dale Finucane were also immense for the Storm, who were able to rest captain Cameron Smith for the final 10 minutes of the match.

Source: New Zealand Herald August 20, 2016 09:44 UTC