Storm hold on to beat Warriors
The Warriors were left to rue a lack of execution in attack after being edged by the Melbourne Storm in a gripping contest in Auckland yesterday.
In complete contrast to their 50-10 thumping to the Storm on Anzac Day, the Warriors stayed in the arm-wrestle throughout the 80 minutes against the NRL heavyweights.
But the Storm’s big-game experience and some rock-solid defence proved to be the difference as they held on for a 12-6 win to go to the top of the table.
In the absence of chief playmaker Blake Green, halfback Shaun Johnson was heavily involved and did his best to lead the Warriors around the park with replacement five-eighth Mason Lino.
But when they did get into the Storm’s red zone their accuracy let them down as they failed to get to a kick on multiple occasions.
It continues a poor run at home for Stephen Kearney’s side, which suffered its fourth-straight defeat at Mt Smart Stadium.
The result sees them fall to eighth place on points differential. They are still four points ahead of the ninth-placed Tigers but Ivan Cleary’s side has built some momentum over the last two weeks, upsetting both the Dragons and Rabbitohs.
It took the Storm just three minutes to open the scoring through a long-range try to centre Will Chambers.
With Solomone Kata caught in two minds in defence, Chambers surged through a gap before beating Roger Tuivasa-sheck to stun the home team.
But the Warriors quickly eased any fears of another Melbourne walkover when they hit back just five minutes later.
A pinpoint cross-field bomb from Johnson found a leaping David Fusitu’a, who popped the ball back to Gerard Beale to score.
Midway through the first half the Storm forwards appeared to be winning the battle in the middle, generating quick ruck speed to get the home team on the back foot.
The Warriors did well to get back into the arm wrestle and there was little between the teams for most of the first half. But you can’t clock off for a second against a side of the Storm’s quality.
And on the stroke of halftime, Suliasi Vunivalu out-jumped Ken Maumalo to grab Jahrome Hughes’ kick and give the visitors an 8-6.
Despite the late setback, the Warriors maintained their positive mindset at the start of the second half. Kata probably should have looked to feed an open Ken Maumalo as he had a try ruled out for a double movement, but it was strong lead-up work from the centre.
They persisted with the short goalline drop outs with mixed results, recovering one while another sailed over the touchline to gift Melbourne two easy points.
The Warriors were dealt a blow early in the half when hooker Issac Luke was forced off with a calf injury.
The only points in the second half were through two Cameron Smith penalties as both teams held strong in defence.
The Warriors were on the receiving end of some questionable penalty decisions by the referees. Still, they had enough chances to strike the killer blow but in the end they just couldn’t get across the line.