League: Price and Wiki lead by example

Warriors 26 Tigers 10

The New Zealand Warriors finally won an NRL match in their homeland outside of Auckland by beating Wests Tigers in Christchurch last night.

Playing for the 11th time away from Auckland, the Warriors put in a clinical performance and dominated in all areas to beat an error-ridden Tigers 26-10.

It was the Warriors' first win in three NRL matches this season, although they still trail the competition on minus two points after a four-point deduction due to salary cap breaches.

The Warriors dominated most of the early play, capitalising on several Tigers errors, with props Steven Price and Ruben Wiki giving the team a good platform.

Left wing Manu Vatuvei went close to scoring twice in the first 10 minutes before Jerome Ropati scored near the right-hand corner in the 14th minute.

Further pressure paid off 10 minutes later when hooker George Gatis broke from dummy half to feed fullback Brent Webb, who scored near the goalposts.

Centre Clinton Toopi then extended the lead in the 34th minute when he stretched out to score a try near the left-hand corner.

The Tigers showed more spark at the beginning of the second half.

They went close in the 44th minute when centre Dean Collis dropped the ball five metres from the line, but were on the scoreboard four minutes later.

Wing Michael Crockett dotted down for the try in the left-hand corner from a dummy-half pass.

However, the Warriors' 14-point margin was restored three minutes later when Vatuvei dotted down near the left-hand upright after a 50m Toopi run following a missed Scott Prince tackle.

The Warriors sealed the game in the 60th minute when Awen Guttenbeil, playing his 150th match for the Warriors, went straight through some weak tackling to score near the goalposts.

The Tigers gained a consolation try nine minutes from fulltime when Daniel Fitzhenry scored after a clever Dean Collis grubber kick.

Guttenbeil, Price and Wiki gained plenty of territory for the Warriors, as did recalled hooker Gatis, while in the backs Toopi, in particular, was outstanding.

Fullback Brett Hodgson, prop Anthony Laffranchi and second rower Ben Galea were the best of an ordinary Tigers team.

- NZPA