A groin injury to star halfback Shaun Johnson has overshadowed the Warriors’ tournament-opening loss to Manly on the first day of the Auckland Nines.
The home side’s hopes of a title push were dealt a blow after the 15-11 defeat at Eden Park, but were also robbed of the services of their playmaker by a groin strain in the warm-up.
The severity of the strain is unclear, but 44-year-old skipper Ruben Wiki said post-game that Johnson would still play later in the two-day rugby league tournament.
“They said they’re going to try and limit the big players’ names for the season,” Wiki said, playing in his first competitive match since 2008.
Despite the absence of the 26-year-old Kiwi, the Warriors looked likely to win their opening match after a Blake Ayshford bonus-point try, but were pegged back late on.
A barging Curtis Sironen effort under the posts gave Manly a 15-11 lead heading into the last two minutes, which they managed to ride out to the final whistle.
Earlier in the Rangitoto pool, Newcastle claimed just their second competitive win in a year when they held out a fast-finishing Wests Tigers 18-10.
Brisbane also opened their account with a 18-4 win over NRL grand finalists Melbourne.
Jordan Kahu and Matt Gillett combined for three tries, while Josh Addo-Carr also got on the scoresheet moments after running down James Roberts.
In the Piha group, Parramatta showed they will again be a force this year after crushing a brittle St George Illawarra outfit 32-11.
Last year’s nines grand-final winners, since stripped of their title for NRL salary cap breaches, cruised to victory with skipper Corey Norman and Clint Gutherson impressing.
The Eels overcame an early 60-metre effort to gun Dragons halfback Jai Field to score the next six tries, including the final one to last year’s MVP in Norman.
“It was really important to come here, start off how we ended it last year, and we did that. There is a sense of pride of defending it,” fullback Bevan French said.
In the Waiheke pool, Gold Coast and Penrith coasted to victory against Cronulla and Canterbury respectively.
Titans co-captain Jarryd Hayne produced an early highlight, soaring to take a Tyrone Roberts bomb in the 25-4 win over NRL premiers Cronulla.
The try assist was one of three set-ups for the halves candidate, who capped off a strong performance with a second-half try – including Hayne’s – in the five tries to one win.
Penrith’s big-name recruit James Tamou then upped Hayne by coming out with two moments of try-scoring brilliance in their 28-18 win over the Bulldogs.
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