WARRIORS 30
EELS 16
KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand Warriors today notched up their first win of the National Rugby League season, beating Parramatta 30-16 in what almost became act two of the Manu Vatuvei show.
The giant winger scored a brace of tries for the second week in a row, but again had Warrior fans on the edge of their seats with frustrating errors.
Vatuvei's brace took his tally of tries to four already this year, while five-eighth Michael Witt kicked five goals from five attempts, many from wide out, to maintain his 100 percent record.
The match was played before 15,250 in warm, sunny weather at Mt Smart Stadium, and there was a drinks stoppage midway through both halves.
Parramatta had won seven of the previous eight meetings between the sides and they struck first with a Luke Burt penalty.
The Eels, without workhorse second rower Nathan Hindmarsh, still recovering from the flu, went further ahead midway through the opening spell.
A couple of quick play-the-balls had the Warriors on the backfoot and, when the ball went wide, winger Eric Grothe beat Vatuvei one-on-one to score in the corner.
But it was Vatuvei who got the home side on the board four minutes later.
A break by centre Brent Tate on the other side of the field was carried on by winger Patrick Ah Van.
When the ball came back across, Vatuvei produced an effort reminiscent of his superb first try against Melbourne last Monday night.
After brushing past Grothe, he got the ball down just as centre Jarryd Hayne was forcing him out.
A sideline conversion again proved no problem for Witt, and the Warriors went ahead when they scored from the kick-off, working the ball downfield before halfback Grant Rovelli kicked ahead.
The ball deflected off a defender to centre Jerome Ropati, one of the busiest Warriors of the afternoon, and he sent Rovelli over by the posts.
Down 12-6, the Eels almost cut the margin just before halftime.
Vatuvei managed to defuse a bomb near his goaline, but then threw a loose pass that the Eels scooped up. The attack ended with Todd Lowrie going over, but the second rower was called back for a forward pass.
Another Vatuvei error led to the Eels' second try early in the second spell, when he lost the ball in a tackle deep in his own territory.
From the ensuing possession, the Eels stacked numbers out wide to create space for centre Joel Reddy to score in the corner.
However, three tries in quick succession put the result firmly in the Warriors' grasp.
Vatuvei got his second when he finished off a Witt kick into the in-goal before Tate got his first points for the club after a decoy runner play opened up a hole for him.
Minutes later, a strong 40m run by Vatuvei ended with Evarn Tuimavave scoring.
There was a late consolation for the visitors, with Burt getting a converted try in the final seconds.
- NZPA
