The Other Warriors: Round Seven
NSW Cup Warriors play the whole 80
The NSW Cup Warriors took off fast in their Round Seven clash against the Illawarra Cutters but had that sinking feeling by the second half. Luckily cooler heads prevailed and the Warriors recorded their third straight win with a 35 - 28 victory.
The Warriors now sit just outside the Top Four in sixth with nine points with the joint competition leaders all on ten points.
The Warriors fielded one of their strongest sides to date featuring many first graders such as Feleti Mateo, Konrad Hurrell, Chad Townsend, Carlos Tuimavave, Sam Lousi, John Palavi and the return of Kevin Locke.
The game opened in a Warriors try scoring spectacular putting 30 unanswered points onto the Cutters in the opening stanza. The try scorers started with Nathaniel Peteru, Tui Lolohea, Kevin Locke and then a double to Tuimavave all in the first half.
Despite all the good work put in, the Warriors renowned halftime slump cost them two tries, one either side of the break. Up 30 - 12 coming into the last 20 minutes of the game, you would think the Warriors would be able to close out the game - but you know the Warriors.
In the space of 14 minutes, the Illawarra Cutters dropped three tries on the Warriors to be trailing by only six points within the last 10 minutes of the game. Thankfully for Warrior fans, Townsend stood up and slotted the field goal to secure the Warriors shaky end to the game.
This week the Warriors take on the Newtown Jets in Sydney on Saturday 3pm (Aussie time). The Jet have only managed one win this year, so hopefully the Warriors can keep their momentum up and make it four wins in a row.
The Junior Warriors get one back against the Dragons
From a solid start and a strong enough finish the Junior Warriors recorded their fourth win in their last five matches. They defeated the Dragons with a convincing 36 - 12 scoreline over the weekend. The last time they played, the Dragons defeated the Warriors by a 24 point margin, so there was definitely some redeeming done over the weekend.
The game opened in explosive Warriors fashion with the juniors scoring five unanswered tries to put them up 24 nil by the 36th minutes of the game. Sam Lisone picked up the first one with a storming run right through the middle. Next was Lafu Feagaiga who showed some fancy footwork to dot down in the corner. Try scoring machine Michael Ki picked up his fifth for the season while Mason Lino added to his points tally with the following try.
Tomas Patelesio also got on the score sheet in only his second game. In a flail of arms and legs Patelesio was confident he got the ball down despite the touch judge's call that he had gone out. Lino used the Captain's Challenge to have the touch judge's call reassessed on video, which proved beneficial as the try was awarded after originally being denied.
Similar to their NSW Cup counterparts the half time lapse cost them a try to Euan Aitken, going into the break 24 - 4.
The Dragons began the second half more enthusiastically than the first half with Aitken scoring another two tries to pick up a hat-trick. This was the moment when games had been lost by the Junior Warriors, but to their credit they sharpened up on defense and managed to rake in two more tries before the final hooter.
Lino scored in the final 10 minutes of the game as well as providing a well placed grubber to set up Ata Hingano for his second try in as many weeks.
The Junior Warriors are beginning to find some form like the Junior Warriors teams of the past. This week they take on Melbourne Storm Under 20s who are sitting in twelfth position on the ladder only one win behind the Warriors. Coach Stacey Jones has kept the same 17 from last week, kick off at 5.05pm NZT.