- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Opinion
A stunning second-half comeback from the NZ Warriors clinched a 34-31 victory over a brave Canberra Warriors on Saturday afternoon.
In front of a parochial GIO Stadium crowd, the Raiders were dealt a series of blows early. Within the first 15 minutes, Canberra had lost Joseph Tapine to an ankle injury and Sebastian Kris and Ryan James to a friendly-fire head clash.
For the rest of the game, they only had one man on the interchange bench, and it eventually proved too much.
In his 100th NRL game, Addin Fonua-Blake opened the scoring in the sixth minute, after some smart lead-up work by Eliesa Katoa.
For the rest of the first half though, it was all Canberra. With the loss of three players, Jack Wighton seemed to take it upon himself to return serve first. George Williams held up his pass well for Wighton and he was in after a big right-hand fend on Kodi Nikorima.
Just four minutes later, they were in again. A smart dummy-half play from Josh Hodgson put Ryan Sutton in against a back-pedalling Warriors defence. Ten minutes before the break, Hodgson put on a similar play and Iosia Soliola was over, extending their lead to 18-6.
(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
The Raiders were on a roll. At first receiver, George Williams spotted a gap and beat ordinary defence to score. A field goal from Williams on the stroke of halftime iced a terrific first half from Canberra.
Concerns over fatigue surfaced early in the second half for the Raiders. Nikorima was instrumental in the start of the comeback. After organising some right-side attack, a channel opened in the middle of the field and he made a diagonal run to the line.
The Raiders hit back minutes later, with a left-edge play from well inside the Raiders’ half. Elliott Whitehead put Jarrod Croker in space and he turned the ball inside to Jordan Rapana.
His kick back infield was perfect and Whitehead led a queue of Raiders to score. At 31-10 with 30 minutes remaining, Canberra had some breathing space.
That space didn’t last long. The Warriors scored two minutes later, after great lead-up work from Ben Murdoch-Masila and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. The Raiders’ defence was in disarray and Bayley Sironen crashed over.
With just under 20 minutes remaining, Murdoch-Masila scored after Nikorima was again causing problems for Canberra. Referee Henry Perenara was on the line for Nikorima’s pass inside but it certainly looked to have travelled forward.
At 31-22, fatigue had set in for the Raiders and it seemed only time could beat the Warriors.
Eight minutes later, the Warriors set up the grandstand finish. Sean O’Sullivan, with a strong Warriors debut, put Tohu Harris close. He was able to turn in the tackle and find Tuivasa-Sheck. At close range, he wasn’t going to be stopped.
(Photo by Tony Feder/Getty Images)
With just over two minutes remaining, the Warriors hit the front. Adam Pompey was put into a gap by Kodi Nikorima and he reached out to score. It looked like the Warriors had achieved their best ever comeback.
But Canberra weren’t done yet. A short kick off gave the Raiders one last chance. A Williams cut-out pass to Jordan Rapana looked to have stolen the show but some brilliant defence from Tuivasa-Sheck jolted the ball loose.
The Warriors won a thriller against an injury-ridden Raiders unit. Nathan Brown was obviously impressed with his team’s comeback but complemented the Raiders’ brave effort without three key players and Curtis Scott being forced to play with a rib injury.
Ricky Stuart paid tribute to his team, having never seen one of his teams play better under adversity. No doubt referring to the Perenara decision and the threat of a fine, Stuart wasn’t taking questions and made a hasty press conference exit.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.