A stunning 78th-minute try from Krisnan Inu sealed a remarkable 22-20 win for the Warriors over Wests Tigers in Friday’s NRL semi-final at the Sydney Football Stadium.
Inu somehow managed to lurch his hands over the line after Shaun Johnson’s bomb bounced off Lote Tuqiri and the former Parramatta centre got the ball down while lying on the ground in front of the despairing Tim Moltzen at the second attempt.
The Warriors set up a clash with minor premiers Melbourne in next week’s preliminary final, with a berth in the grand final at stake.
The result ended a run of nine consecutive wins for the Tigers, who led for the whole game until Inu struck, and were comfortably in control at halftime, leading 18-6.
NSW prop Keith Galloway opened the scoring on the 15-minute mark for the joint-venture, with his first try of the season, barging over a helpless Kevin Locke as he made his way to the line from close range.
Benji Marshall, who was irresistible in the opening 25 minutes, then doubled his side’s lead, latching onto a quick pass from Robbie Farah and side-stepping Lewis Brown and Ukuma Ta’ai to touch down, before kicking his second conversion of the game.
However, the Tigers’ flawless start received a jolt against the run of play when Locke took advantage of the the hosts’ first handling error of the game from Matt Groat to leave four players trailing in his wake.
The young fullback then produced an outrageous flick pass into the path of James Maloney, who raced under the posts to score in what was the Warriors’ first meaningful attack of the game.
The visitors then enjoyed their best spell of the half, but with the ball just five metres short of the Tigers line, Johnson lost possession and Blake Ayshford broke downfield.
Robert Lui then kept the ball alive superbly and skipper Farah darted over to score five minutes before halftime.
The Warriors started the second half well, with Feleti Mateo bulldozing his way to the line 10 minutes after the interval, after the outstanding Johnson fooled the Tigers with an audacious disguised pass into the hands of the big backrower.
Maloney’s conversion closed the gap to six points, only for Marshall to extend his side’s advantage in the 56th minute with a close-range penalty.
However, Ivan Cleary’s side refused to back down and after forcing a penalty deep in their own half, a Maloney kick found touch 20 metres from the Tigers’ line.
From the resulting tap, Maloney darted into space and released Lance Hohaia who dived over from dummy-half to score his eighth try of the season.
Maloney’s conversion closed the gap to two points and with the Tigers desperately pressing for a winning score the Warriors regained possession and moved menacingly towards the Tigers line.
Johnson’s high bomb caused havoc in the in-goal area, and Inu stunned the Tigers and most of the 27,109 crowd to set up a clash with the Storm for a place in the grand final.
Warriors coach Ivan Cleary paid tribute to his side’s battling qualities as they bounced back from last week’s 40-10 hammering by Brisbane in superb fashion.
However Cleary, who will coach Penrith next season, was left fuming at a 9-4 penalty count against his team and slammed the decision to let Shayne Hayne and Jared Maxwell referee his side for the second successive week.
“The boys were able to turn around the things we needed to at halftime and that is a pretty good quality and I guess if you keep coming sometimes you can jag the wins,” Cleary said.
“The last two weeks we have had a 7-0 penalty count against us in the first half from the same two referees.
“It was 9-4 overall tonight which is horrendously lop-sided in a semi-final, there were definitely some calls tonight they will be disappointed with when they look back.”
Despite the dramatic win, Cleary believes the Rugby World Cup will see his players slip under the radar when they return home to Auckland, and joked that he is not expecting too much attention from the local media.
“The Rugby World Cup is pretty big news there at the moment, but what can you do?” he said.
“It is quite an achievement what we have done, but I guess Russia will be playing Namibia or something.”
Tigers coach Tim Sheens was too devastated to go into detail about the decision to award the last-gasp try after the referees did not call held after Moltzen made the initial challenge on Inu, allowing him to score at the second attempt.
“What is done is done … they ruled on it and our season is over, I just want to thank my boys and the club for all their effort and to Toddy Payten, who is retiring, for a great career,” Sheens said.
“I am not really fussed talking about the game, there is no use, there is no next week, just next year.”
all7days
Roar Guru
Why do people feel the need to bash one sport or the other. I can speak for "many" (how ever many that means) Kiwi's too. We Love both Union and League. Getting in to a measuring contest is a little silly. I'm backing The Warriors, ABs, Vikings, Thunder and Valerie Adams. Don't Hate... Appreciate.
Rich
Guest
That's ironic since Brandi played for the Warriors
go warriors
Guest
I like how all these insecure NZ union fans jump on to a rugby league articule dribbling their usual union and rwc nonsense. Typical union fans you go on about how great your game is however you all watch NRL and then go onto a RL articule to read all about. At the moment it is all about the warriors even the radio talkback in NZ was all about the warriors not the ABs. If the warriors progress to the grand final there could be 3 NZ teams in the grand final. The u20s, the vulcans and the warriors up against the Abs v canada game. Geez I wonder which game is going to be more interesting. I can speak on behalf of many kiwis that they are more interested in the warriors than the all blacks. Go the mighty warriors
Siva Samoa
Roar Pro
hopefully the warriors/storm game can beat the usa/russian game on sky tv this week. good stuff the nrl put the warriors game on straight after the world cup game so it might get some followers after it.
Allblackfan
Guest
Absolutely. The standard of the minnows has blown everyone away (RL take note!). This rwc will be a tv ratings bonanza!
Jaceman
Guest
The refereeing in the Wests Tigers game was a new low for the year. Intersting to see if Hayne gets the Warriors again but perhaps it was in the NRLs interest to have Wests Tigers in the finals for some big TV ratings in Sydney and perhaps as a bulwark to GWS. Hayne was unbelievable. I think maxwell may have been winking at Hayne but I cant be sure - anyone fot incontrovertible evidence he was winking at a Tigers player. Did the commentators make a point of it ??? I only saw the Fox version...
clipper
Guest
allblackfan - looked like a huge crowd - about 4 times the size of the manly/NQ and storm crowds last week. Have all the crowds been that great for non all black games? Sounds like the Irish may have almost drunk the place dry!
allblackfan
Guest
Matt, a quick note: the Irish were still partying 24 hours after that ``dire'' Aust-Ireland game. All 14 Irish bars in Auckland (and plenty of non-Irish ones) were packed out SIX hours before the game (8.30pm start) and they were still going strong 24 hours later (my Aussie nephew finally turned up at our lodgings 72 hours after he went missing -- all good though). RL fans like to see plenty of running and scoring tries; nothing wrong with that. RU fans like to see a contest; an arm wrestle for possession and field territory. How many times has a field goal won a close game in the NRL and the fans go ballistic? RU is MASSIVE here at the moment. I'm a diehard RU fan who watches NRL and even I'm astounded at just how big it is (4-5 times bigger than a Bledisloe Cup, at least). I'm sure the Warriors will be glad to be in Aust at the moment. I wonder if they will stay in Aussie this week or have they returned to NZ?
Siva Samoa
Roar Pro
it will be good for warriors fans to watch the game in new zealand without having to compete against one of the biggest rugby world cup games. you know the warriors semifinals game will never get much attention in nz while the world cup in on even if you said so. havent you read what ivan cleary and micheal luck said about the rugby world cup compared to league in nz right now?
Siva Samoa
Roar Pro
oikee, i was talking about puting the warriors/tigers game on friday so it doesnt clash with the all blacks/france world cup game in new zealand therefore fans of the warriors and neutrals in nz can watched. the warriors/tigers game was alright but there been many rugby world cup games that were better for me personally. the russians/usa rugby world cup game even beat the warriors/tigers finals on sky tv by over 100,000 views.
aimee.baby
Roar Rookie
What Benji Marshall does isnt any different to what every other 5/8 does
Matt S
Guest
Reports by a union journo in today's Sunday Mail stated there was more excitement & talkback calls regarding the warriors win on a sport radio program he was guest on over 2 hours . This from a union person. So I don't think the warriors need to tippy toe around union schedules. Given the pretty poor WC games of late, the Wallabies v Ireland was dire, the kiwis will ride the warriors big time if they win the NRL GF. May shock a few union tourists. Go warriors and showcase a game with tries :-D
AC
Guest
The Melbourne/ Warriors game should sell out AAmi - hope it does. Go Warriors
Emric
Guest
Oikee The AB Game did not class with the Warriors game because of the time zone the Warriors game commenced after the conclusion of the AB V Japan game. Personally I think the warriors had some pretty good viewing stats in NZ considering the AB's game was before hand. NRL: 207,400 (9:55pm - 11:35pm), It's still not the AB V Japan (Sky, Maori tv) 1,283,210 Next week will be the true test of how well Rugby League is doing in NZ - Not sure when the Warriors game is exactly but the AB's are taking on France to see who tops the table, the game's sold out Eden park (60,000) and I personally think we might push 1.9 million figure who watched the opening fairly close, either way it will be good for the country if the AB's win the world cup and the Warriors win the NRL
Kuruki
Roar Guru
Gus is a muppet. He writes the Warriors off all game and then changes tune after he is proven wrong. Maybe he should commentate on the game from a neutral perspective it will stop the need to jump ship.
Kuruki
Roar Guru
I think he means All Blacks France. And dont mind these Aussies. They live in their own little bubble when it comes to sport.
Kuruki
Roar Guru
To be perfectly honest the Tigers dominated the first half on the back of a 4-0 penalty count. When the Warriors got a few in the second half they got into the game. This game was heavily influenced by the whistle. So overall i think it made the Warriors win that much sweeter as it was a heavily lopsided penalty count the Tigers way.
Kuruki
Roar Guru
Absolutely. That was almost criminal, and i am not surprised, as it has been well known in NZ that the Warriors have had a raw deal from across the ditch for many years. And it will not surprise me one bit if Harrigan dishes up the same ref's again for the Warriors next week.
Matt
Guest
Ahhh, we have a fella by the name of Jerome Ropati who been out most of the season who is pretty "dynamic", so the Warriors have done pretty well considering, Simon Mannering, Lewis Brown, Joel Moon, Shaun Berrigan, Inu and even E taylor have all played centre this year.
oikee
Guest
:) I think Gould was just getting ready to cheer for the Tigers if they had shut down the Warriors, but the Warriors fought back, and Gus would have been cheering for them since Cleary is at the Panthers next year. You see biase, i see gus being neutral, which he supposed to be. On the Fox, replay, we had Brandi Alexander calling it a no try or bad ref call on fox. Mate, look, i am the best to judge, Try, every day of the week, the ball went backwards from Inu, Brandi reckons it went forward, and no player put a hand on him, so he could have got up and run. Simple, the video ref got it right.