The Other Warriors: Round Four
The Only Warriors with Wellington Woes
Known as a franchise to pull one out of the back the NSW Cup Warriors were on the opposite end on Saturday afternoon down in Wellington.
They were taking on the NSW Cup Tigers team and were sitting comfortably at 26 - 16 approaching the back end of the game. Before the Warriors had realized what had happened they were facing another draw.
The Tigers had dotted down twice and the Warriors could feel the game start to slip away. Luckily only one of these tries were converted to give the Warriors the slightest bit of hope leaving the game at 26 - 26 in the final minutes.
Blake Austin is shining at NSW Cup level
Tigers halfback Blake Austin almost stole the game with field goal but pushed it to side. The Warriors thought they had done enough to avoid with loss when the final siren sounded but the Tigers turned up the heat with Austin producing a marvelous effort stepping past defenders to still the win in a thrilling 80 minute encounter. The Tigers pipped the Warriors at the post with a 32 - 26 victory.
In all honesty, the game was there to be lost by the Warriors. They should have had that end game mentality to close the game out or at least not give up a draw after the final hooter went. Carlos Tuimavave, interchange front rower Abraham Papalii and centre David Fusitua had secured them a halftime lead with a try each at 14 - 8.
By the final quarter of the game the Warriors had accumulated a 26 - 12 lead. The scoreline stayed this way for the next 10 minutes until the Tigers put Naitaravaro inching the them within a converted try in the 73rd minute.
The Warriors caked the kick off, putting it out on the full piggybacking the Tigers to the halfway for a penalty. The Tigers class of fullback Kurtis Rowe got the Tigers in with minutes to spare to lock it up at 26 all before Blake Austin pulled out a clutch run to steal the victory.
The loss leaves the NSW Cup Warriors with three points - a draw and two points from their bye the week before. They take on Cronulla this Saturday who are just one point in front of the Warriors on the ladder.
The Juniors Come Up Trumps
The Junior Warriors have made it two wins in a row on the back of second rower Michael Ki hat-trick to sneak in a victory over the Junior Wests Tigers at 26 - 24 in Wellington. The contest opened in a frenzy of tries alluding to another high scoring affair like last weekend against the Cowboys.
Early penalties had given the Warriors good field position which soon turned into points for Michael Ki picking up the first of his three tries a minutes into the game.
Ki got in a few minutes later bursting onto a last tackle grubber from halfback Mason Lino. Lino converted one of them to put them up 10 nil.
Then the first momentum shift happened. The Tigers were able to complete some sets and the increased possession turned into points on some slick ball movement putting Sione Alofi the fullback for the Tigers in to score, with Mitchell Moses adding the extra two.
Then the Warriors were next to score through centre Lafu Feagaiga along with Lino with a successful conversion putting the Warriors back to a 10 point lead. But what is still trending for the Junior Warriors, their pre-halftime slump cost them another try going to the sheds at 16 - 12 at half time. The trend continued leaking another try to the Tigers putting them ahead at 16 - 18.
A costly refereeing decision saw the Tigers give up possession to the Warriors which eventually led to a try, but the Captain's Challenge was used by the Tigers and the decision was reversed. The Warriors did not receive the try which could have almost cost them the game.
Luckily, the Warriors made it back to try line through the right side winger Braxton Stanley to put the Warriors in front at 20 - 18.
The Tigers hit back next to snatch the lead in an amazing effort by Tom Satterthwaite to jump and bat the ball back into centre Marion Seve's hands. The conversion from out wide pushed them ahead to 20 - 24 with only 15 minutes to go.
The penultimate moment of the game came through another Warriors set play with Lino poking a well weighted grubber through the line for a rampaging Ki to pick up his third and most significant for the day. The conversion right in front sealed the deal for the Junior Warriors who recorded back to back win for the season with a clutch 26 - 24 win.
Signs of improvement are starting to show for the Junior Warriors especially in their completion rate which was an impressive 32 out of 37. The week the Junior Warriors take on Junior Sharks who are alos 2 from 4 this season but are coming off a loss last week.