Mitch Barnett scored one of the Warriors' four tries in their loss to Canberra. Photo / Photosport
NZ Warriors 18
Canberra Raiders 20
The Warriors’ season hangs by a thread.
Heading into their clash against the Canberra Raiders on Friday night, there was no hiding the fact they were coming into a crucial few weeks of their campaign and needed to start the stretch off on the right note.
Instead, they were slow out of the blocks and fell to a 20-18 loss.
The evening was an apt summary as to why the two teams currently sit outside the top eight with a fight ahead of them to keep their seasons alive as both were guilty of letting the other off the hook with errors, penalties and poor defensive efforts.
“It’s just disappointing where we’re at at the moment. We’re just finding ways to hurt ourselves,” Warriors captain Mitch Barnett told Sky Sport.
“I led the way there tonight. I was disappointed with a couple of crucial errors – one for a try and one coming out of our own end.
“We fought to the end, but we just let ourselves down with errors.”
The Warriors fell behind 14-0 inside the opening 20 minutes, fought their way back to level the score midway through the second half, with a conversion all that separated the sides in the end. The Warriors outscored the Raiders four tries to three, but Chanel Harris-Tavita sprayed all three of his conversion attempts to the right of the uprights after taking over the goalkicking when Adam Pompey went off with a leg injury.
A team already missing a cast of key figures, the Warriors were forced to shuffle their hand again as fullback Taine Tuaupiki (head knock) and centre Pompey (leg) were forced out of the game in the first half.
Tuaupiki’s exit in the ninth minute saw Roger Tuivasa-Sheck move to fullback, with second rower Kurt Capewell playing the majority of the game at left centre; rookie Leka Halasima playing the second half at centre with Ali Leiataua pushing out to the wing.
For much of the first half, the Warriors were being made to work for everything they got.
The backline will be seeing Jamal Fogarty bombs in their nightmares with the Raiders’ halfback putting plenty of pressure on them with his towering kicks. When those were successfully defused, the chasers were on the mark to make the tackle.
The same couldn’t be said for the Warriors, who struggled to put pressure on the Raiders with their own kicking game. It was telling at the half that the Raiders had more than 100 kick return metres to the Warriors’ 12.
It was a moment of hustle from Jazz Tevaga on a mediocre kick to muscle the ball away from the Raiders in the contest that set the Warriors up to break out of their early funk, as Tuivasa-Sheck worked his way over just before the break to see the Warriors trail by eight points.
They were significantly better in the second half, carrying the ball with more conviction, moving it more freely and playing with some pace to their attack.
That paid dividends with Capewell and Barnett – both backing up after a State of Origin decider on Wednesday night – crossed on the left edge to level the scores.
The Raiders – at risk of seeing their early dominance come to nought – retook the lead through Xavier Savage in the 70th minute, but his try was cancelled out moments later when Addin Fonua-Blake charged through some weak defence close to the sticks.
Harris-Tavita couldn’t add the extras however, and the Raiders were able to close the game out.
Warriors 18 (Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, Kurt Capewell, Mitch Barnett, Addin Fonua-Blake tries; Adam Pompey con)
Canberra Raiders 20 (Hudson Young 2, Xavier Savage tries; Jamal Fogarty 3 cons, pen)
HT: 6-14
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