KEY POINTS:
The New Zealand Warriors today booked their place in the National Rugby League (NRL) playoffs with a 34-16 win over an understrength Manly side in Auckland.
The Warriors were short of their best, but overcame a strong Manly start to score six tries to three, with Wairangi Koopu getting a double in his 150th first-grade appearance.
With one round to go, the result also kept the Warriors in the hunt for a top-four finish and a home semifinal.
They climbed to fourth on the table, although Parramatta will go back above them if the Eels beat St George Illawarra tomorrow night.
The Sea Eagles, who knew pre-match that they would finish runnersup in the minor premiership, were missing five key players, with coach Des Hasler citing injuries for their unavailability.
Hasler made six personnel changes to his squad of 17, and five to his starting 13.
He gave NRL debuts to winger Michael Bani and interchange forward Vic Mauro and, in a positional switch, moved veteran second rower/centre Steve Menzies to five-eighth.
Both sides lost a player early to shoulder injuries, with Manly prop Glenn Hall and Warriors centre Jerome Ropati going off.
The Warriors - wearing special replica jerseys as a 30th anniversary tribute to the 1977 Auckland who that beat Australia, Great Britain and France in the space of 20 days - were first on the scoreboard with a Michael Witt penalty.
But Manly then settled down and began to dominate proceedings.
They silenced the crowd of 25,070 at Mt Smart Stadium with two tries, both set up by skipper Matt Orford, that took them to a 10-2 lead.
A precise Orford kick led to Bani dotting down in the corner, before the halfback produced a big break and then proved hard to put down to help to send winger Chris Hicks over.
The final pass from centre Michael Robertson to Hicks looked forward, but the touchdown was awarded.
The Warriors continued to struggle to find their rhythm, but got back into the contest when interchange forward Epalahame Lauaki barged his way over despite the attention of four tacklers.
Then, just out from halftime, Koopu, who had came on as Ropati's replacement, finished off a long-range attack with a superb solo run.
Surprisingly, superboot Witt missed from a comfortable angle to leave the Warriors with a 12-10 lead at the interval.
The Sea Eagles continued to make the running and were denied what seemed like a fair try 10 minutes after the restart.
Robertson seemed to get reward for a strong allround performance when he was put into a hole with a short ball from Orford and crossed over.
However, to the relief of the home fans, video ref Chris Ward unexpectedly ruled there had been an obstruction.
To add insult in injury, the Warriors headed upfield for hooker George Gatis to force his way over by the goalposts.
They moved further ahead with a Witt penalty and then an uncoverted second try to Koopu from a well worked scrum move.
Manly never gave up and hit back when centre Jamie Lyon finished off a 90m attack.
However, the Sea Eagles' momentum was stalled when Orford failed to find touch with a penalty and the Warriors went back upfield for centre Simon Mannering to score the try that virtually sealed victory.
An intercept try by winger Manu Vatuvei added icing to the cake.
NZPA
