Improved Warriors stay Storm chasers
Two tries from David Fusitu’a wasn’t enough to give the Warriors a win over the Storm in Melbourne on Anzac Day.
The Warriors, who put in a much improved performance than their loss to the Raiders in the last round, were defeated 20-14 at AAMI Park as the Storm scored two late tries to move in front.
The result puts the Storm to the top of the NRL ladder, thanks to the Dragons’ loss against the Roosters earlier in the evening, while the Warriors are in 12th place with a third of the season now gone.
When these two teams faced each other in Melbourne last year it was a 42-0 win to the Storm and it was followed by one of the lowest points in the history of the club, with six players caught mixing Tramadol and energy drinks on return to Auckland.
A year on, the Warriors needed to show they’ve made improvements off as well as on the field since then. They have, but still not enough to beat the NRL’s pace setters.
The signs weren’t good in the third minute when Ken Maumalo lost the ball at a ruck, to give the Storm great field position.
However, nothing came of it and six minutes later the Warriors scored the opening try, with Blake Ayshford feeding a nice pass out to David Fusitu’a on the right edge for the opening try.
Ben Matulino came on in the 27th minute, making his first appearance of the season following his knee injury and immediately made his mark with a big charge up the middle of the field.
But in the 30th minute the high penalty count against the Warriors finally cost them with Nelson Asofa-Solomona crashing over from a few metres out.
Four minutes before the break the Warriors were awarded a penalty 35m from the Storm line, it appeared that the players wanted to take a quick tap, but the order from the coaches’ box was to go for two points, something Shaun Johnson looked frustrated about. However, the halfback was on target with his kick to put the Warriors back in front.
But in the last few seconds of the half, with the Warriors defence stretched, Ayshford gave away a penalty, which Cameron Smith kicked to square the score up at 8-8.
Ligi Sao came on for Solomone Kata at the start of the second half, which meant Bodene Thompson had to move to centre and four minutes into it, Fusitu’a had his second try of the night, benefitting from quick hands along the Warriors backline.
In the 47th minute Will Chambers ran outside Thompson and then flicked the ball inside him to Cooper Cronk for the Storm’s second try.
Johnson put the Warriors up 14-12 in the 52nd minute with another penalty kick and they held that narrow lead for 13 minutes before Josh Addo-Carr scored the Storm’s third try, despite the best efforts of Fusitu’a to force him out.
The game was sealed four minutes from time when Felise Kaufusi managed to go through a small gap and ground the ball for the Storm’s final try.
The Warriors won’t have long to lick their wounds over this game, as they host the Roosters on Sunday, a fixture the Warriors really need to win to stay in the hunt for a top eight spot. Fairfax NZ