Warriors 18
Storm 15
KEY POINTS:
The Warriors blew NRL finals predictions away with their last-gasp 18-15 victory over the champion Storm in Melbourne yesterday, arguably the best win in the club's 14-year history.
The Warriors became the first team to enter the finals in eighth place and then roll the top-ranked team.
They also produced a complete game, topped off with a 70m team try with only two minutes to go to earn themselves a second knockout match against the Roosters at Mt Smart Stadium next Friday.
But stand-off Michael Witt first gave the fans heart failure by holding the ball up in the air after he crossed the goalline and forcing it down just before Storm skipper Cameron Smith tried to kick it out of his hands.
Witt said last night that he was trying to wind the clock down.
"I didn't realise I had someone else right on me. In hindsight, I should have dived for the corner."
He said his team-mates later asked "what the hell I was doing, but it worked out in the end".
The game would have been Ruben Wiki's last had the Warriors lost but the old man of the NRL declared: "It's not over yet. There's games still left in these legs."
He said the team had worked on turning negatives to positives, and when Storm star Greg Inglis slotted a field goal to break a 14-all deadlock with 12 minutes to go, the Warriors - rather than accepting defeat - looked on that as the signal to step up.
Of the coming final against the Roosters, Wiki said: "It's our house. Get the fans out."
Tickets for Friday's game go on sale today. The Warriors will have the luxury of a side largely unchanged for the past month.
The Roosters, who lost to the Broncos on Friday night, will travel without hooker Riley Brown, who broke his arm in that game, and big Willie Mason, injured the week before.
- ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY NZPA
