The Warriors have some points!

The NSW Cup Warriors took on the Illawarra Cutters (feeder to the St. George/Illawarra Dragons) this week in the first of the triple header played at Eden Park over the weekend.

The Warriors now have some points on the NSW Cup ladder despite their slow start. I hope it isn't going to become a trend for the Warriors, but this match started off the same as last week. They gave up early points to the opposition, finding themselves down by two converted tries within 20 minutes.

Koni is showing some form worthy of an NRL call up

If you were to take a positive from this, you could say that at least it was only 12 points and nothing more. There was plenty of time for the Warriors to turn the game around and take the lead, but in typical Warriors style they butchered possession and tries with simple errors over and over again. You could say the weather had an impact - Cyclone Lusi and all, but to be honest you could have just called it another day in Auckland.

However, there are positives. The two tries Illawarra scored were the only points the Warriors conceded for the entire game. You can praise the effort and desperation of the Warriors on defense. It could have been a different ending had they let in just one more try.

Instead, the Warriors finally breached the Cutters line with a rampaging Konrad Hurrell run down the left side to give Jarred Wilson his third try in two games. Tui Lolohea brought his kicking boots on Saturday as he cooly slotted the sideline conversion to bring the Warriors within one converted try at 6 - 12.

Salvation for the Warriors came in the 76th minute when some quick hands and slick ball movement set up Jarred Wilson for his second double in as many games. Lolohea lined the conversion up smartly once again to have the game locked at 12-all.

With three minutes to play each team was thinking field goal. The Warriors had three attempts but were unsuccessful all three times. Luckily the Cutters were unable to score any more points as well.

What can be taken from this game is the positive attitude on defense shown by the Warriors. They could have easily ceded the match after the first two tries, but to their credit they hung in their to get their first points of season. However, there is still a lot to work on, better ball security and an improved offense would have meant the Warriors taking all the points from this game. That point could be the difference come the back end of the season, so grateful for that at least.

The NSW Cup Warriors have their first bye this weekend so hopefully the rest does them well to prepare for the following weekend when they take on the West Tigers at Leichhardt Oval.

Jones' Warriors Still Building

The Junior Warriors were shown up in their first home game of the season against the Junior Dragons over the weekend. Despite a close first half, the game ended up in a 40 - 16 hiding.

Just like the week before, the Junior Warriors gave up first points to their opposition, letting the Junior Dragons out to an 18 nil lead. The NYC is renowned for quick tries and the Junior Warriors are no exception scoring two tries within a few minutes to leave them only one converted try behind at 12 - 18 at half time.

Mason Lino continues to impress for the Juniors

The second try the Junior Warriors got before the break was a prime example of taking advantage of this years rule changes. Captain Mason Lino kicked a beauty of a 40/20 and capitalized on the quick tap rule by sprinting down field to collect the ball and resume play. Within moments Lino was over the line celebrating before the Dragons had realized what had happened.

When play resumed after half time the Warriors knew they had to be next to score. However, things went the other way with the Junior Dragons widening the score to 12 - 24. The Warriors had a glimmer of hope when centre Lafu Feagaia bustled his way over in the 52nd minute to make it 16 - 24.

In the last 20 minutes of the games the Junior Warriors sat in shock, letting in 16 unanswered points. A poor completion rate thanks to some poor handling by the Warriors made the game harder than it had to be for themselves adding to the large difference in the score.

Sam Lisone was a stand out for the Junior Warriors though. He returned to the squad after playing for the NSW Cup Warriors last week and had the best stats of any Junior Warrior with 17 carries for 159 metres gained as well 7 tackle busts and 21 tackles.

Coach Stacey Jones was disappointed but had no reason for concern as the focus of the Junior Warriors this year is the development of players. Hence the amount of young players who can play Under 20s for a couple more years including Bunty Afoa from St Paul's college who also debuted this game.

Next week is another hard game heading up to North Queensland to take on the Cowboys.