Warriors win for a broken nation
ON A day of heartache in New Zealand, the Warriors produced an emotion-charged victory yesterday to raise the spirits of a broken nation.
The packed house inside Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland took part in a minute’s silence before kick-off, paying tribute to the 49 victims of the shocking terror attack at a Christchurch mosque.
Players wrote messages of support on their strapping and the Warriors opened the gates for free.
And on the field, they put on a show that applied the blowtorch to Canterbury’s 2019 campaign with a bruising 40-6 win – and in the process, unearthed a halves pairing that can take the Warriors into the post-Shaun Johnson era.
The Bulldogs finished 2018 with a burst to avoid the wooden spoon and would have hoped to build on that strong run.
But those dreams faded quickly in Auckland as they fell behind 22-0 at halftime on the back of a brilliant showing by the new Warriors halves pairing of Blake Green and debutant Adam Keighran.
Things did not pick up after the break as Warriors put the foot down with three secondhalf tries to close out the humiliating mauling which secured their biggest win ever against the Bulldogs and their best-ever round one points haul.
WARRIORS 40 (K Maumalo, S Kata, A Keighran, N Roache, R Tuivasa-Sheck, S Kata, P Hiku tries; A Keighran 6 goals) def BULLDOGS 6 (C Crichton try, K Holland goal).