League: Warriors bag first home win of season

NZ Warriors 46 South Sydney 14

The New Zealand Warriors tonight got into positive territory on the National Rugby League points table after beating fellow strugglers South Sydney 46-14 in Auckland.

It was the Warriors' first win at home in three attempts this season and lifted them off zero points.

Victory in front of 8000 spectators came against opposition who paid for a poor first half in which they struggled through lack of possession, poor defence and errors committed often early in the tackle count.

The result meant Souths, still looking for their first victory of the year, dropped to the bottom of the table, with the Warriors climbing above them.

The home side scored seven tries to three, with prop Ruben Wiki getting an early brace.

Tony Martin kicked nine goals from nine attempts, and also added a touchdown for a personal haul of 22 points.

Both of Wiki's tries came from strong solo runs, the second from 20m out, through weak tackles.

Martin converted both for a 12-0 lead, before the centre gathered a loose ball to scored an opportunist 50m try.

Ben Rogers reduced the margin to 4-18 for Souths when he crossed on the rare occasion the Rabbitohs showed cohesion in attack in the opening spell, with fast hands creating the chance.

But a big midfield bust by interchange forward Awen Guttenbeil sent fullback Brent Webb on an unobstructed 45m run for the Warriors' fourth touchdown.

Down 4-26 at the interval, Souths hit back with two tries early after the restart, as the Warriors made a slow start to the second spell.

First, winger Paul Mellor did well to ground the ball when given little space by the corner flag.

Then five-eighth John Sutton forced his way over as Souths pulled the score back to 14-28.

The Warriors tightened their game and hooker George Gatis' try from dummy half with 17 minutes to go virtually settled the contest.

Skipper Steve Price then got into the act with his first try for the club, barging over in heavy traffic, before winger Todd Byrne added the icing with the clock counting down.

New Zealand Warriors 46 (Ruben Wiki 2, Tony Martin, Brent Webb, George Gatis, Steve Price, Todd Byrne tries; Martin 9 goals)
South Sydney 14 (Ben Rogers, Paul Mellor, John Sutton tries; Nathan Merritt goal).
HT: 26-4.
Referee: Jason Robinson.
Crowd: 8015.

- NZPA