Warriors 30
Roosters 24
A 90m Wade McKinnon special sealed a vital 30-24 win for the New Zealand Warriors over the Sydney Roosters to keep their slim National Rugby League playoff hopes alive today.
McKinnon's brilliant solo dash to score in the 75th minute, and a Stacey Jones try on the fulltime hooter, completed a stirring second half comeback to end a three-match losing streak.
The fullback gathered a Mitchell Pearce grubber on his own 10m line and dashed away, fending off Kiwis fullback Sam Perrett in the process.
The Warriors trailed the bottom-placed Roosters 10-18 at halftime before 8021 fans at the Sydney Football Stadium, but defended stoutly in the second half and scored six tries to four in all.
Big winger Manu Vatuvei inspired the fightback with two second half tries.
It was a much-needed victory for the Warriors, who'd won just two of their previous 10, and left them five points outside the top-eight with the high-flying Dragons looming in Auckland next weekend.
The Warriors were missing two key men: their heavily concussed skipper Steve Price and young winger Kevin Locke, who failed a fitness test on a shoulder injury.
But their opponents had their own dramas, with yesterday's announcement that coach Brad Fittler's contract wouldn't be renewed and Newcastle's Brian Smith would take over.
The Roosters flew into action with big Willie Mason stamping his mark on the match in the opening minutes, giving debut Warriors five-eighth Isaac John a welcome to the NRL by smashing him into touch.
From the next play the Roosters earned a penalty then Mason charged over to open the scoring in the ninth minute after strong lead-up work from forward Frank-Paul Nu'uausala.
The tentative Warriors struggled with set completions early on and a handling error from Vatuvei welcomed the Roosters to double their lead to 12-0 in the 15th minute via Ben Jones.
A Roosters error let the Warriors back into the contest, when one-time Kiwis winger Shaun Kenny-Dowall -- playing his 50th NRL match -- fumbled a kick from John.
Simon Mannering muscled his way past three Roosters defenders to score out wide, and Jones kicked his first goal of the year.
The Roosters came back when Pearce spotted Jones rush in from out wide, and his cut out pass found centre Tom Symonds who fed Pearce on the inside. Craig Fitzgibbon's third goal made it 18-6.
The Warriors needed to strike back, and after three consecutive sets of six they narrowed the deficit to eight points thanks to John's vision when he floated a cut-out pass to Patrick Ah Van to stroll over in the right corner.
The Warriors came out firing after the break and a big run from Ah Van set up their third try just two minutes in, from their favourite attacking play.
Vatuvei climbed high and latched on to Jones' pinpoint bomb to carry three Roosters defenders over the line. Jones' conversion made it 18-16.
Some much-needed starch in the Warriors' defence kept it in the balance as they repelled five consecutive Roosters sets of six, including a Ben Matulino trysaving tackle on Jones.
Vatuvei's second try in the 56th minute finally put them in front, thanks to a barnstorming run from Matulino before Mannering's cut-out found his big winger who was unstoppable.
With 10 minutes left, the Warriors' defence finally cracked as the impressive Symonds ran into a gap and scored.
Fitzgibbon's fourth goal put the Roosters up by four, before McKinnon's late heroics saved the day for the visitors.
Warriors 30 Manu Vatuvei (2), Stacey Jones, Wade McKinnon, Patrick Ah Van, Simon Mannering tries; Jones (3) goals
Roosters 24 Willie Mason, Ben Jones, Mitchell Pearce, Tom Symonds tries; Craig Fitzgibbon (4) goals
- NZPA
