Warriors 26
Eels 18
The New Zealand Warriors, rated by many as title contenders, opened their National Rugby League campaign on in a winning note in Auckland tonight by beating Parramatta 26-18.
After two one-point victories in other NRL matches last night, the clash at Mt Smart Stadium was a little more clearcut, with the Warriors scoring four tries to three in an encounter featuring plenty of early-season rust.
Substitute Lance Hohaia grabbed a double in a generally livewire display before he limped off in the 50th minute after rolling an ankle.
The result was a fitting one for skipper Steve Price, who became the 11th player in 101 years of first-grade football to make 300 appearances, 78 of them for the Warriors.
The prop showed his durability by staying on the field for 48 minutes before getting a spell on the bench.
Defeat marked a disappointing return to Auckland for new Parramatta coach Daniel Anderson, who guided the Warriors in their first three playoff seasons from 2001-3.
However, his players did mount a mini-comeback in the second half to keep the big home crowd out of the comfort zone.
The Warriors made a great start, going up 12-0 after just a quarter of an hour on the back of plenty of territorial advantage.
Winger Manu Vatuvei came close after a big run before one of the Warriors' three new recruits on show, five-eighth Joel Moon, broke the deadlock.
Moon combined with centre Jerome Ropati, before backing up as Ropati produced a good offload to send Moon over.
Five minutes later, young prop Russell Packer, a late promotion to the starting 13, powered over from close range.
Winger Denan Kemp, another of the new signings, landed both conversions on the way to a 100 per cent kicking record from five attempts.
From there, the Eels began to show greater threat on attack.
Kemp had to produce a great one-on-one tackle on opposition centre Krisnan Inu to snuff out what looked to be a certain try.
In the 24th minute, Parramatta did get on the board when winger Eric Grothe cut back inside to catch the defence off guard and score a converted try.
However, a touchdown from almost nothing for Hohaia, who scooped up a blind offload by halfback Nathan Fien and strolled over, restored the 12-point cushion.
Hohaia got his second early in the second half after Grothe dropped a Moon bomb. From the ensuing scrum, Hohaia got through some soft tackling to dot down.
Parramatta then mounted a revival.
It was the turn of Warriors fullback Wade McKinnon to drop a bomb and Parramatta five-eighth Jarryd Hayne went to score an easy try to help close the gap to 26-12.
An Inu try from a Feleti Mateo offload, with Luke Burt adding his third conversion, made it an eight-point ball game with 20 minutes to go and the Eels came close again shortly after to keep the home fans on edge.
Before kickoff, there was a minute's silence to honour Warrior Sonny Fai, who went missing while making a rescue at a west Auckland beach in early January.
- NZPA
- NZPA
