NZ Warriors 18
A late fightback by the New Zealand Warriors failed to carry them home as an efficient Parramatta side held on for a 24-18 victory in their National Rugby League match at Eden Park in Auckland tonight.
Defeat for the Warriors was made worse by the depressing news of another serious injury to star winger Manu Vatuvei, who is expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks.
Having missed almost all of the Kiwis' Four Nations campaign last year with an arm injury, Vatuvei lasted only 14 minutes before limping off.
His first burst with the ball down the left was stopped by opposite Etu Uaisele, who dived low down at him. Vatuvei, the most prolific tryscorer in the Warriors' history, stayed down after the tackle before being helped from the field and was later diagnosed with medial ligament damage.
There could also be judiciary trouble for James Maloney.
The five-eighth was put on report for a shoulder charge on Jarryd Hayne while the opposition fullback was waiting to defuse a bomb.
Parramatta showed plenty of structure and shape under new coach Stephen Kearney as they dominated possession for large parts of the game.
Winger Luke Burt grabbed 16 points including two tries to be just one short of Brett Kenny's Parramatta record of 110 tries.
He also passed 1500 career points during the match.
The Warriors struggled to get going for much of the contest in front of the biggest home crowd in their history, with 38,412 turning up at the rugby union stronghold.
They found themselves having to do far more tackling as their opponents and errors didn't help their cause.
The match was preceded by a minute's silence for the victims of the Christchurch and the Japan earthquakes. When it got under way, it was the Eels who made all the early running and it came as little surprise when they opened the scoring through halfback Jeff Robson.
After Parramatta got field position from a penalty, hooker Casey McGuire sent Robson over with a move from dummy half. Burt landed the conversion and then a penalty, before the Eels again got over the line.
Their shape and structure showed as they worked through their set before five-eighth Jeff Mortimer's cross kick was hauled in by Hayne on the side of the field vacated by Vatuvei.
With the crowd getting restless, the Warriors finally got on the board five minutes from halftime when they turned down a penalty shot at goal in front of the posts.
The decision paid almost immediate dividends when the ball worked to stand-in winger Jerome Ropati, who dotted down in the corner.
James Maloney's conversion from wide out made it a 14-6 halftime scoreline in favours of the visitors.
But the Eels restored their lead early in the second half when NRL debutant Glen Fisiiahi failed to clean up a Hayne bomb and Burt grabbed an easy try.
The Eels continued to threaten, and Burt again crossed in the corner from another well-worked move.
With the Warriors being outplayed the crowd began the dreaded Mexican wave, but without the same ugly scenes as happened at the same venue during the Four Nations.
The wave ended when Ropati grabbed his second try via a great diving effort.
With 10 minutes to go, Lewis Brown's score via a Maloney bomb, with Maloney adding the extras, made it a six-point game.
PARRAMATTA 24 (L Burt 2 J Hayne J Robson tries L Burt 4 goals L Burt field goal) bt NZ WARRIORS 18 (J Ropati 2 L Brown tries J Maloney 3 goals) at Eden Park. Referee: Steve Lyons, Chris James. Crowd: 38,405
- NZPA
