NRL: Warriors deepen Bulldogs misery

Sam Rapira of the Warriors charges forward. Photo / Getty Images

NZ Warriors 36
Bulldogs 12

The New Zealand Warriors heaped further misery on the beleaguered Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs tonight with a 36-12 victory in Auckland.

The Bulldogs' build-up had featured the abrupt departure of coach Kevin Moore after a run of seven defeats in nine matches.

While the visitors raced out to an early 12-0 at a rain-swept Mt Smart Stadium to suggest they might turn around their fortunes under Moore's assistant, Jim Dymock, they couldn't maintain their challenge.

The Warriors scored six tries to two, with hooker Aaron Heremaia getting a double, on their way to their biggest win of the season .

Captain Simon Mannering said after their shaky start they produced they could be proud of.

"We didn't start the game the best but full credit to the guys we stuck to our guns.

"We played the basics of footy very well tonight and that goes a long way in any game.

"Bar that first 10 minutes we defended very well and I felt as the game went on we defended better so that's always a good sign," he said.

The result consolidated the Warriors' position of sixth, while the Bulldogs have now lost three in a row to remain rooted in the bottom half of the table.

Compounding the defeat was an injury to Kris Keating, who left the field late in the match with ligament damage to his left elbow.

Despite the slippery conditions both sides showed a willingness to move the ball and ball security was impressive.

The Bulldogs made a spirited start, with former Kiwi Ben Roberts making his presence felt at five-eighth.

Roberts' kick ahead in the sixth minute bounced around opposition winger Bill Tupou and gave Jonathan Wright the opening try.

Roberts then instigated a sweeping attack from deep inside Bulldog territory and was there again at the finish with a kick that ricocheted clear.

Winger Steve Turner snapped up the loose ball to dot down, and then landed his second conversion for a 12-0 lead.

After a sluggish start, the Warriors began to hit their straps.

Halfback Shaun Johnson's short ball sent Elijah Taylor into a hole and the second rower forced his way over the line for a converted try.

The Warriors tied the scores when a big run by Tupou and an offload by Mannering created the opening for five-eighth James Maloney to scamper over.

Maloney added the extras to leave the sides level pegging at the interval.

The Warriors came out of the sheds full of running, an early repeat set finished off with back-up hooker Lance Hohaia sneaking over from dummy half.

It was then Heremaia's turn to get on the board, via a brilliant 50-metre solo run in his 50th match for the club for his first try of the season.

Minutes later second rower Feleti Mateo got his first in Warriors' colours when he turned from offloader to finisher to close out a well-worked move.

With the hooter having sounded Heremaia got his second try to add the icing on the cake.

WARRIORS 36 (A Heremaia 2 L Hohaia J Maloney F Mateo E Taylor tries J Maloney 6 goals) bt CANTERBURY 12 (S Turner J Wright tries S Turner 2 goals) at Mt Smart Stadium. Referee: Shayne Hayne, Gavin Reynolds. Crowd: 12,012.

- NZPA