NRL: Warriors cement top-eight spot

Ben Matulino of the Warriors charges forward. Photo / Getty Images

Warriors 12 Rabbitohs 6

The New Zealand Warriors cemented their spot in the National Rugby League's top eight with a scrappy 12-6 win over South Sydney in Auckland today.

It was the Warriors' fifth victory in succession and their seventh from eight matches, allowing them to enter their first bye of the season next week in positive mood.

The result left the injury-hit Souths, who were without the likes of skipper Roy Asotasi, Greg Inglis and Sam Burgess, in the bottom half of the standings.

The Rabbitohs showed glimpses of their threat on attack, but mistakes often hindered their momentum.

The Warriors had almost all the territory in a messy first half, but had just a Brett Seymour try to show for their dominance.

They created many other chances, including when centre Shaun Berrigan and winger Krisnan Inu both looked certain to score.

However, Berrigan had the ball knocked out his hands by Chris Sandow while Inu lost possession in contact as he tried to get over the line.

Inu was also run down by centre James Roberts when he snared an intercept deep in Warriors territory.

Then, when he played the ball 1m out from the Souths line and fullback Kevin Locke got over from dummy half, the winger was penalised for impeding Roberts at marker.

Just when it seemed the match would go into halftime scoreless, the Warriors finally got on the board thanks to another Souths error.

A turnover deep in Rabbitohs territory led to a break by Lance Hohaia, and Seymour was on hand to nab a dummy half's try under the crossbar.

Up 6-0, the Warriors again missed out after Inu just made contact with the touchline in the lead-up to skipper Simon Mannering getting over the line.

Mannering was then denied again early in the second half when an Inu attempt to tap down a bomb was ruled to have gone forward.

Souths finally struck back in the 55th minute, when fullback Rhys Wesser kicked ahead a loose pass by Nathan Merritt and beat the defence to the ball to score.

A Souths mistake from the kickoff handed possession straight back to the Warriors and the home side took full toll, with Aaron Heremaia and Lewis Brown helping to send Inu over in the corner.

James Maloney's sideline conversion made it 12-6.

With five minutes to go, Sandow's third 40-20 of the season kept the 16,872-strong crowd on the edge of their seats.

But in a frantic finish, the Warriors continued their trend this season of strong defence late in matches to keep the Rabbitohs out.

WARRIORS 12 (K Inu B Seymour tries J Maloney 2 goals) bt SOUTH SYDNEY 6 (R Wesser try C Sandow goal) at Mt Smart Stadium. Referee: Steve Lyons, Phil Haines. Crowd: 16,873.

- NZPA