Warriors march into season with solid win
GETTY IMAGES THE Warriors will head into round one of the NRL season with a spring in their step after going through the preseason unbeaten.
With most of his big-names on display, Stephen Kearney’s side produced a solid 20-14 victory over the Titans in wet conditions on the Sunshine Coast last night.
Kearney would have been particularly pleased with his newlook halves pairing of Blake Green and Shaun Johnson, with new signing Green freeing up the latter to terrorise the Gold Coast defence.
Johnson had a hand in the Warriors’ first three tries to David Fusitu’a, who bagged a double, and Solomone Kata before hooker Sam Cook snuck over from dummy-half to seal the result.
The Titans were sloppy on attack for long periods but the Warriors’ defence was another strong point. Although, the leftedge was exposed late in the match as the Titans ran in two late tries.
Making his first appearance in Warriors colours, Adam Blair would have hoped for a better start. The Kiwis captain dropped a simple inside pass to let the Titans off the hook after the Warriors found themselves camped in their red zone in the first five minutes.
With the referees punishing both sides for slowing down the ruck, it was not long before the Titans marched upfield.
And they made the visitors pay, albeit off a lucky deflection as Ash Taylor pounced on his own his own grubber kick.
Despite conceding the try, the Warriors generally defended their line well in the first half with Isaiah Papali’i, a late replacement for Bunty Afoa, and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck coming up with try-savers five minutes before the break.
Johnson and Green took their time to get into the contest but they combined well to get the Warriors back on level terms in what fans will be hoping is a sign of things to come this season. In a sweeping shift to the right, Green found a wide-running Johnson who held the defence up along enough for Fusitu’a to cross in the corner.
In the shadows of halftime, Johnson then popped up on the left to produce a sublime tip-on pass to put Tuivasa-Sheck in space, with a juggling Kata finishing an entertaining move to give the Warriors a 10-6 lead.
Despite an early error, the Johnson show continued at the start of the second half to set up Fusitu’a’s second.
In a move almost identical to their opening try, the halfback received the ball on the right before unleashing a perfect cutout pass to the flying Tongan winger.
It wasn’t all good for the Warriors. There was a worrying sign when Titans back-rower shrugged Ryan James shrugged off some feeble defence to go on a 70m break. But they at least responded well to force a mistake a few tackles later.
Mistakes then crept into their game as the rain set in. And after holding out the home team for multiple sets, they eventually conceded out wide to Tyronne Roberts-Davis.
That reduced the deficit to four points but Cook crossed with 10 minutes to go to wrap things up.
Now it’s on to Perth on March 10 where South Sydney awaits – and the result really counts.