Warriors enjoy a Knights
Flying winger produces an incredible display, touching down four times.
The Warriors’ mini-revival rolls on. After their hopes looked almost dead and buried a few weeks ago, they now have a new lease of life.
They crushed Newcastle 50-14 yesterday, which gave them consecutive wins for just the second time this season and lifted them four places to eighth.
It wasn’t a perfect display — and there were untidy moments, especially on defence — but it is difficult to criticise a ninetries-to-two victory. The only major negative was an injury to Manu Vatuvei (torn hamstring), and Shaun Johnson left the field with a corked thigh.
Winger David Fusitua had an incredible day, and is only the seventh Warriors player to touch down four times in a match.
Prop Albert Vete grabbed his first two tries of the season and Issac Luke was prominent in his 200th NRL outing. Sam Lisone brought an aggressive edge to the pack and the backrow continued their efficient work of last week.
The attack wasn’t quite as crisp as against the Broncos but they still came up with some spectacular tries, particularly to the flying Fusitua.
But what stood out was a sense of control. The Warriors were prepared to build pressure and look for repeat sets, showing patience that hasn’t always been apparent this year. And perhaps most importantly, they kept their line intact for the last 53 minutes.
However, just like last week, the Warriors can’t — and won’t — get carried away. There is no such thing as an easy game in the NRL but the Knights, in their current state, are as close as it gets. Their team yesterday had an average age of 22 and, although they competed well for the first 50 minutes, were always likely to be overwhelmed if the Warriors produced anywhere near their best.
A well-timed run and offload from Jacob Lillyman resulted in Vete crossing in the fifth minute, then a sharp backline move saw Fusitua extend their lead six minutes later. But every time they threatened to break away in the first half, they let the Knights back into the contest, with some cheap penalties and poor defence.
Two ineffectual grabs allowed Sione Mata’utia to power over for Newcastle’s first try before a lack of desperation from Warriors chasers let Brendan Elliott arrive first to ground a Knights grubber.
It meant the home side stayed in touch and they bombed a certain try early in the second half.
But that was as close as Newcastle got. Fusitua scored two tries in four minutes, after which the game became a procession. Further tries to Fusitua, Solomone Kata and Vete completed the rout, to bring up the Warriors’ first half-century since they beat Canberra 54-18 in 2014.
HSee nzherald.co.nz/sport for video highlights of last night’s game Knights 14 (S. Mata’utia, B. Elliott tries; T. Hodkinson 3 goals) Warriors 50 (D. Fusitua 4, A. Vete 2, M. Vatuvei, B. Thompson, S. Kata tries; S. Johnson 5 goals, I. Luke 2 goals). Halftime: 14-22.