Warriors join Dragons at top of NRL after win

SYDNEY: The New Zealand Warriors ended St George Illawarra’s winning start to Australia’s National Rugby League season and joined the Dragons at the top of the standings with a 20-12 win in Auckland this weekend.

The Warriors, missing Kiwi Test scrum-half Shaun Johnson, saw off a Dragons second half comeback in registering a four-tries-to-two win. Warriors half Mason Lino, promoted for the injured Johnson, put in another outstanding performance in his second start of the season. Elsewhere, Melbourne Storm put their rivals on notice that their title defence is back on track after beating the Broncos 34-20 in Brisbane. Storm stand-off Cameron Munster further pushed his claims for Queensland State of Origin selection with a strong performance.

Storm Test fullback Billy Slater was in everything in a stunning two-try performance that would have had Queensland coach Kevin Walters licking his lips. The South Sydney Rabbitohs put in their most dominant performance of the season, hammering the Canberra Raiders 42-22, but English Test star Sam Burgess potentially faces yet another suspension.

Returning from a two-week suspension, Burgess was immense against Canberra, running 203 metres with four offloads and six tackle busts and setting the tone for the win.However a 59th-minute high tackle on Aidan Sezer saw him placed on the referee’s report. Another suspension potentially beckons, with the weight of two prior incidents already this year likely to count against him at the judiciary.

The Sydney Roosters ground their way to a 6-0 win over Canterbury and did so without captain Jake Friend, who was concussed in making an attempted tackle. Shaun Kenny-Dowall went from villain to hero as the Newcastle Knights pulled off a stunning 22-20 victory over the fourth-placed Wests Tigers. But the win could come at the cost of star scrum-half recruit Mitchell Pearce suffering a pectoral injury that could see him sidelined for months.