The Other Warriors
NSW Warriors make it three in a row
It was good to finally see the Warriors teams back at their real home, Mt. Smart Stadium. Even the fickle Auckland weather gods shined on the pitch all afternoon allowing some quality football to be played.
The NSW Warriors opened the Warriors triple header at Mt. Smart and did so with a convincing 34 - 12 victory over the Newcastle Knights feeder team.
The Warriors started slow giving up an early 12 point lead to the Knights but it wasn't long before the Warriors kicked into gear. Winger Jarrod Tua was first to get on the Warriors scoring sheet. Tua dotted down in typical winger fashion in the corner off a slick Tui Lolohea pass. Captain Steve Waetford was next to add a try to his name after a quality offload by Raymond Faitala-Mariner and subsequent line break.
Lolohea leveled the scores with on-point conversions to make it 12 a piece. By the 30 minute mark the Warriors were able to take a lead that would never be surrendered. Upu Poching burst onto a well placed short ball from Dominique Peyroux, and with Lolohea adding the extras the score pushed out to 18 - 12.
The Warriors can be commended for the fact that they didn't take their foot off the gas as their second half performance continued their impressive first half display. The relentless left side attack of the Warriors eventually ended in two more tries for winger Tua, completing his hat trick by the three-quarter mark of the game.
Kevin Locke was also able to sneak onto the try scorers list after receiving an offload from Carlos Tuimavave in the midst of getting tackled. The NSW Warriors are in middle of the top eight currently sitting on fifth place but have a chance to move into fourth with another win this week against the Bulldogs at Belmore Sports Ground.
Junior Warriorssuit follow
The Juinor Warriors continued the winning trend set by their NSW counterparts earlier in the day to topple the competition leaders the Knights at Mt. Smart. The Warriors were out to carry on their form that saw them secure an away win against the Titans last week in Robina on the Gold Coast.
Who would have thought that two games ago the Warriors lost against the Bulldogs who were running last and then go on to defeat the table topping Knights. That's the Warriors for you.
The 34 - 22 win over the Knights at home was a courageous effort as well after losing players in key positions during the game with standoff Ata Hingano and hooker Kurt Robinson being forced from the field with injuries.
However, there was no doubt having their co-captains Mason Lino and Sam Lisone returning to the side after some NSW Cup experience was a real bonus for the juniors. They had good go forward and enough direction to allow them to take an early lead.
Centre Ken Maumalo, loose forward James Bell and fullback Brad Abbey were the first try scorers for the Warriors with Mason Lino converting them all for a 18 nil score line.
That pre-halftime lapse was ever as apparent against the Knights, with the Warriors practically gifting them two tries to enter the break 18 - 12. Fortunately the Warriors were first to hit back after the break through interchange hooker Nathaniel Roache as the Knights had all the momentum after that.
With 20 minutes left to play the Knights were only two points behind at 22 - 24. This is where the experience of Lino started to shine through. He had the composure to pull out a handful of clutch plays within the final quarter of the game. In the 66th minute he cut through the Knight defense to score on the left after a split decision to shift to the left side of dummy half and send his decoys through. He then converted his try to put the Warriors more than a converted try in front and then proceeded to close out the game setting a try up for winger Metia Lisati.
The Junior Warriors sit just inside the top eight now only two points behind the teams sharing the fourth equal position.