NRL: Warriors rue poor second-half showing in defeat to Canberra Raiders

The Warriors committed a host of errors in the second-half before going down 20-8 to the Raiders at GIO Stadium. Photo / Photosport.

The Warriors are ruing an error-ridden second-half performance that saw them concede 14 unanswered points to go down 20-8 to the Canberra Raiders last night.

The Warriors made only four mistakes in the first-half at GIO Stadium but committed a whopping 13 after the break, with two crucial errors leading directly to Canberra tries.

Having dominated possession through the opening half, the visitors lost the rub of the green and spent the bulk of the second 40 minutes on their own line while making 61 more tackles than the home side.

"We just didn't give ourselves a good enough opportunity in the second-half," said coach Stephen Kearney.

"There was some really good effort out there tonight. We just made it really difficult on ourselves.

"Through the second-half we had 42 per cent completion, coupled with five penalties to zero, so it goes hand in hand.

"You make life pretty difficult for yourself like that."

The Warriors led 8-6 at the break but could have enjoyed a bigger lead if not for some poor finishing and two disallowed tries to captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and centre Solomone Kata in the shadows of halftime.

Tuivasa-Sheck looked certain to score before a desperate tackle from Raiders skipper Jarrod Croker turned him on to his back and prevented him from grounding the ball ingoal.

"I thought I was over," said Tuivasa-Sheck. "I thought I had just made the line before he got to me. But they saw otherwise so it's gone now."

Their frustrations grew when wing Ken Maumalo was ruled to have knocked-on when he tried to tap back a high kick in the lead-up to what looked like a certain four-pointer to Kata.

"We created enough opportunities, (we were) probably a little bit unlucky," said Kearney.

"There was a decision just before halftime we were probably a little unlucky with, with a cross-kick there, so I was pleased with that.

"I was just a little frustrated for the boys in the sense we just didn't give ourselves a chance in the second-half."

Behind 8-12 inside the final quarter, the Warriors hopes were virtually extinguished after a strip from Raiders hooker Josh Hodgson went unpunished before the No9 went on to duck over the line for his side's third try.

The game was still within the Warriors reach but what limited chances they had in opposition territory were spoiled by a lack of patience and poor ball control.

Outstanding Raiders centre Joseph Leilua finished the match with two tries and had the Warriors left-side defence continually on the back-foot as he racked up 135 running metres.

"We probably spent too much time, particularly in the second-half, on our try line and gave them too many shots at us.

"We only had two good ball sets in the second-half so it's pretty hard to win footy games like that, giving the opposition a heap on sets on your try line."

The 11th placed Warriors now have nine days to prepare for another tough away assignment against the second-ranked Storm in Melbourne on Anzac Day.

"For us it's an opportunity," said Kearney.

"We came off the back of a pretty short turnaround with a bit of travel in between, so it's a good opportunity for us to recuperate a little bit and dust ourselves off and prepare for a really big challenge down in Melbourne."