Warriors back on track with win over Eels
AUCKLAND: The Warriors are back on track.
After being humiliated by the Roosters last week, they bounced back with a gritty 2414 over the Eels in Sydney last night.
It cements their place in the top four, and continues their winloss pattern since early last month.
It was a far from perfect display — they were particularly untidy in the second half — but they showed strong resolve late, with two tries in the last 13 minutes to take the game. Issac Luke was a standout, while Gerard Beale made a solid return to the NRL.
The Eels, who this year have been a shadow of the side that impressed so much last season, started with some promise with early penalties but soon unravelled. They made four errors in the first quarter alone, often due to Warriors pressure.
David Fusitu’a — who else — opened the scoring for the Warriors in the 10th minute, finishing with one of his gravitydefying leaps in the corner after a sharp pass from Mason Lino.
Stephen Kearney’s team extended its lead 10 minutes later, with Lino again prominent. His crossfield kick eventually found his way to Peta Hiku, who slipped over, then slipped down the narrowest of channels to score.
That should have been the platform to launch as the Eels were in some disarray, but it never quite happened. Momentum swung back towards Parramatta, as the Warriors gave away a succession of penalties, which culminated in Isaiah Papali’s sinbinning.
The Warriors pulled off some brilliant lastditch tackles to concede only one try in his absence but struggled to reassert their ascendency.
Things got ragged for much of the second half, with cheap penalties, poorly judged offloads, forward passes and other silly errors. They made it hard for themselves, and the Eels gained belief. It culminated in two mistakes by Hiku and Manu Ma’u’s 61stminute try edged the Eels ahead.
The Warriors were somewhat fortunate to regain the lead after a Blake Green grubber bounced sharply into Jazz Tevaga’s hands with 13 minutes to play.
There were some nervy moments, as the Warriors clung to a fourpoint lead, before Luke drove over in the 75th minute to seal a vital result