Roar Guru
The Newcastle Knights head across the ditch to kick off Sunday afternoon football, when they take on an out of form New Zealand Warriors side desperate for a win. Join us for live scores and commentary from 2.00pm AEST.
While New Zealand will look to regroup after suffering their biggest loss in club history against Penrith last week, they will be met with the daunting task of trying to stop a Newcastle outfit that ripped apart the Canterbury Bulldogs just seven days ago.
With Matthew Elliott’s future in the shaky isles looking very shaky, he will be hoping the addition of Kevin Locke and Dane Nielsen will lift his side’s lacklustre attack, which is only averaging 15.1 points per game so far in 2013.
New Zealand turned on a performance last Saturday night that Warriors fans have sadly become far to familiar with, completing only 16 of their 24 sets in the 62-6 thrashing at Centrebet Stadium.
Newcastle on the other hand were clinical in their 44-8 demolition of Canterbury last Sunday, with the Knights rolling over the top of one of the best forward packs in the competition, chalking up 757 more metres then their opposition and completing 85 percent of their sets.
Prediction
It was only a matter of time before Newcastle were going to turn their form around and prove why they are one of the best attacking teams in the competition.
Their win against Canterbury, who were coming off the back of three straight victories, will certainly give the Novocastrians a boost as they attempt to beat New Zealand for only the second time in their last seven outings at Mt Smart Stadium.
While Kevin Locke’s inclusion will add to the Warriors’ attack, the New Zealand outside backs will have to deal with the return of Akulia Uate, who was a late scratching from last week’s game against the Bulldogs.
Overall, I can’t look past last week’s performance by both teams. I think Newcastle will carry a lot of momentum into the match, and expect them to account for New Zealand fairly easily.
Newcastle by 14 points.