‘Auckland is a rugby league town’: How the Warriors have taken over - and how Super Rugby let it happen
If there was ever a testament required to the success of the New Zealand Warriors, we might have seen it this last weekend passed.…
Shaun Johnson has played down the thigh strain he is carrying after helping to guide the Warriors to a 12-10 NRL win over the Sydney Roosters in Auckland.
It was the mercurial halfback’s try in the 64th minute, when he darted through a gap before touching down in the tackle, that gave the Warriors some breathing before the Roosters mounted a late comeback.
Johnson picked up the injury early in the Warriors’ 50-14 win over Newcastle in the previous round and didn’t train through most of the week.
Against the Roosters, he handed over the goal-kicking duties to hooker Issac Luke, who landed four from four.
Johnson described the injury as “nothing serious” and said goal-kicking was the only thing he wasn’t ready for yet.
“I’ve been through similar things before just with the load of kicking we have to do,” he said.
“I’ll manage it and I’ll be right.”
As for his try, Johnson had had to be patient as a resilient Roosters defence constantly shut down space.
“It was probably frustrating at times for me not taking the line on, but generally it just wasn’t on,” he said.
“I stuck with it. I kept in the play, kept my eyes forward and an opportunity came and I took, so very happy.”
The result over the Roosters on Sunday was the Warriors’ third win in a row and they had to do it without Johnson’s starting halves partner, Thomas Leuluai, for most of the match.
Leuluai went off in the ninth minute after a head knock, leaving him in doubt for the Warriors’ trip across the Tasman to face high-flying Cronulla.
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