Ben Matulino. Photo / Getty Images
Sunday's clash between the Warriors and Roosters at Mt Smart Stadium is shaping up as a mouthwatering contest and one of the most important matches of the season for both sides.
The pressure is really on the home team, who are looking to hold their place in the top eight against a top four side that have really started to hit their straps in recent weeks.
While the Roosters' attack has been building nicely in their past three victories over the Dragons [30-22], Titans [26-18], and Tigers [48-4], I've been more impressed with their defensive work. They are starting to find the form that saw them win the 2013 title and that success was built on a foundation of strong defence. They are looking like they're in that sort of mood again and opposition teams should be scared to see them coming good at the business end of the year.
Coach Trent Robinson has his players working hard defensively early on and being patient with the football, and their attack flows off the back of that, as shown in Saturday's clinical second-half against the Tigers in which they piled on seven tries.
The Warriors, on the other hand, will be looking for improvements across the board, particularly defensively, after struggling to contain opposition offloads in their past two games against Cronulla and Newcastle. The Sharks are a team that enjoy playing second-phase footy. The Knights' master coach, Wayne Bennett, recognised that as an area his side could exploit further and they did that exceptionally well.
Not only did the tactic force the Warriors into extra defensive work, it also prevented them from controlling the ruck, with Newcastle preferring to attack laterally rather than getting bogged down in one-on-one forward contests. How well the Warriors can adjust their tackling this week will be crucial to their hopes of winning, and I will also be interested in how well they transition from defence into attack, as they often looked fatigued and one-dimensional coming out of their own half against Newcastle.
Their go-forward has lacked in the past two weeks and that's due to the extra tackles involved in shutting down the second-phase, so we need to see more purposeful running and I think the shift of Ben Matulino into the front-row of the starting pack will be hugely important.
The fact that there's a whole contingent of Kiwi players involved gives this match another edge and adds a different importance to this game, with Kiwis' Four Nations selections on the line and a lot of contenders marking up against each other. With Matulino taking on Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Sam Moa, Manu Vatuvei marking Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Ngani Laumape facing off with Shaun Kenny-Dowall, and Konrad Hurrell testing himself against Aussie Michael Jennings, there are plenty of interesting subplots.
Whether or not Sonny Bill Williams is a late addition to the Roosters side provides some added mystery in the lead-up and local league fans would love the chance to see him in action one last time perhaps ever before he makes the switch to rugby at the end of the season.
It will also be a final opportunity for a New Zealand crowd to enjoy the talents of one of the game's modern legends in Roosters skipper Anthony Minichiello, so there's plenty to like about Sunday's contest no matter what team you're backing.