League: Junior Warriors march on toward final

Semisi Tyrell, right, celebrates with Jazz Tevaga during the Junior Warriors' win over Brisbane. Photo / Getty

Junior Warriors 45
Junior Broncos 10

The Junior Warriors remained on course to add another impressive chapter to their glittering legacy after blowing away Brisbane in today's NYC sudden-death semifinal.

Once again saving their best football for the perfect time of year, the Warriors made a mockery of their seventh seeding to win a second straight knockout game across the ditch.

The defending champions scored eight tries to easily advance to the third week of the Holden Cup finals, where only minor premiers Penrith stand between the New Zealand side and a fifth grand final in six seasons.

The Warriors were looking less than likely to defend their crown as they stumbled towards the playoffs, winning just one of their final four games to slide down the ladder. But it was a similar story last season when, as the eighth seed, the Warriors eventually advanced to the showpiece match and survived a stunning Broncos comeback to claim the spoils.

Today's tussle in Townsville never threatened to reach such levels of drama, with the Warriors' sparkling attack ensuring they controlled the match from start to finish.

Brisbane were barely able to escape their own half as the Warriors took a well-deserved 14-point lead to the break, completing sets and kicking well to build pressure before running rampant through the left side of their attack to grab four tries in the opening 40 minutes.

Right from the moment Paul Ulberg converted Brad Abbey's astute grubber in the corner, the Warriors threatened almost every time they saw a glimpse of the Brisbane goalline.

The halftime break did little to diminish their dominance, with an impressively up-tempo attack causing the Broncos defence to visibly tire and leave gaping holes for the Warriors to exploit. Brisbane were being forced to make almost twice as many tackles, and it showed as Semisi Tyrell danced through the defence to notch a hat-trick.

But as unstoppable as the Warriors' attack appeared for much the match, their own defence would have been equally pleasing for coach Kelvin Wright. It may sound improbable given the final score but, at times in the second spell, the Broncos did threaten to repeat the miracle resurgence they mounted in last year's final.

But the Warriors scrambled well and muscled up when needed, making some crucial tackles to stamp out any attempted fightback before it really began.

That resistance left Erin Clark, Paul Tuli and Abbey to add late gloss to the scoreline and left the Warriors one step closer to a fourth championship.

Junior Warriors 45 (P. Ulberg, S. Tyrell 3, J. Tevaga, E. Clark, P. Tuli, B. Abbey tries; A. Hingano 6 cons, B. Abbey dg)
Junior Broncos 10 (J. Arrow, J. Drew tries; J. Tuttle con)
HT: 20-6