‘Gutsy effort’ best part of Warriors’ win
AUCKLAND: Warriors coach Stephen Kearney was thrilled with the character his side showed to recover from a difficult past week and repel a secondhalf fightback from St George Illawarra yesterday.
The Auckland outfit put the disappointment of last week’s capitulation to the Gold Coast behind it to claim an 1812 upset win over the Dragons at WIN Stadium.
The result was the club’s first win over the Dragons at their seaside home ground in 11 attempts and its second win in Wollongong since the Warriors beat the Illawarra Steelers in 1996.
Kearney was pleased with his side’s resilience in hanging on defensively to consolidate its place in the top eight and remain in contention for a topfour spot with a month remaining until the playoffs.
‘‘It was a gutsy effort. That was the really positive part of the performance,’’ Kearney said.
‘‘They spent plenty of time down on our try line and we found a way to get the win.
‘‘We’ve done a pretty good job of [winning on the road] all year. We hadn’t won in Perth in God knows how long, [and] Townsville.
‘‘We’re not focused on where we’re playing. We just want to focus on our performance. That’s why we’re really pleased with today, because it was a tough, gritty performance and that’s why we were disappointed last week, because we let ourselves down.’’
The Warriors kept things simple with the outside backs helping the forwards to work the ball off their own line. Captain Roger TuivasaSheck was outstanding at fullback, along with left winger Ken Maumalo and right centre Gerard Beale.
‘‘Ken was pretty good. The back five, with Roger obviously as skipper, was wonderful,’’ he said.
‘‘[Gerard] is a 150gamer with a lot of experience and he’s played in big games and he came up with some really important reads today and also made a real contribution with the footy.
‘‘When the team was trying to get out of the back field he’d poke his nose through and find his front and get a quick play the ball for us, which was really positive.
‘‘But that sort of perform ance, everyone has to contribute and that’s the real positive.’’
Right wing David Fusitu’a began the match strongly but after dropping a high ball late in the first half, followed up with two clangers early in the second half that led to two Dragons tries.
The first saw him put into touch on the second tackle before he lost the ball on tackle zero from a scrum, with the hosts capitalising to score through hooker Cameron McInnes and interchange forward Luciano Leilua.
Kearney was reluctant to criticise the 23yearold, who has had an outstanding season overall, and was pleased he recovered to finish the game positively.
‘‘It’s a bit like our performance last week — he learned to shelve that because we need Dave to respond quickly for us,’’ he said.
‘‘And he’s done that pretty well all year for us. Could he have done a couple of things better? Absolutely. He’d be the first to admit that, but he’s done some pretty good stuff for us this year also.’’
The eighthranked Warriors will continue to press for a topfour spot when they host Newcastle at Mt Smart Stadium on Friday. — NZME