NRL: Ropati relishing challenge ahead for Warriors

Jerome Ropati crossed over twice in the opening match of the season. Photo / Getty Images

The New Zealand Warriors face a daunting couple of weeks as they attempt to rebound from a first-up defeat in the National Rugby League competition.

They face two of the favourites, the West Tigers in Sydney next Saturday night and premiers St George Illawarra in Auckland in round three.

But rather than being fazed by the draw, centre Jerome Ropati can see only positives in it.

In particular, the quality of the opposition would help to focus the Warriors on the need to improve their ball security after their 24-18 loss to Parramatta in Auckland at the weekend.

"I think it's great for us at the beginning of the season to have this," he said.

"We're going to have to hold the ball against those two teams.

"If we do that, we'll set ourselves up for the season. If we don't, we're going to dig a hole for ourselves, so I'm relishing the opportunity to play these teams."

The Dragons opened their campaign with a 25-16 victory over Gold Coast on Saturday, while the Tigers face Canterbury tonight.

For Ropati, the error rate was a big disappointment of the defeat to the Eels at Eden Park.

"We came with a good game plan, but we didn't stick to it," he said.

"We coughed up a lot of ball and, if you don't have the ball, you can't win the game."

On the other side of the ledger was the Warriors' defence, which had to make more than 400 tackles to the opposition's 268.

"Our defence was excellent," Ropati said.

"We can take confidence out of that for next week."

The centre, who was pushed out to the wing when Manu Vatuvei went off after just 14 minutes with a knee injury, bagged two of the Warriors' three tries.

That took his career tally to one short of a half-century.

Ropati said the absence of a strike weapon of Vatuvei's calibre for an expected six to eight weeks would challenge the Warriors.

But he was confident the club had the depth to making a good fist of covering for the big winger.

"It's going to test our character," he said.

"It will test how we're going to bounce back from this and I think we will."

For Ropati, the way Parramatta, under new coach Stephen Kearney, had gone about their work was a demonstration how to perform early in the season.

The Eels were completing their sets at above 90 percent during a dominant first half and also make far fewer errors than the Warriors.

"They played the way you should play in the first round of a season," he said.

"You establish your fundamentals, you establish your ball security. You make sure you get that down pat and you stick to your game plan."

- NZPA