Analysis: Sometimes in sport, you must simply take a win and two competition points, without dwelling too much about how it happened.
NZ Warriors escaped from their Go Media Stadium home – only their second visit there in three months – with a lowscoring 20-12 victory over bottom-of-the-table St George-Illawarra Dragons, compiling back-to-back wins for the first time since May, after a difficult period hampered by injury, Origin absences and byes.
Over the final 10 minutes, they resorted to kicking penalties, rather than kicking for touch and exerting pressure – which is how they prefer to play – to ease clear of a potential comeback.
They also needed some assistance from game officials, who allowed a Warriors try that the visitors claimed came from a forward pass, ruled out a Dragons try and then awarded a contentious escort penalty that the five-eighth Chanel Harris-Tavita converted into points.
The final pass to wing Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was a short lineball that was possibly no more egregious than 6-10 other passes during the course of the contest, except the resulting try put the Warriors ahead for good just after halftime.
The disallowed try to Dragons wing Setu Tu was more obvious. He seemed to slip 20 metres out from the tryline, grounding his ball-carrying arm, as fullback Taine Tuaupiki scrambled to hold him.
Tu slipped the tackle and continued to the line, but the stadium waited several moments, before the bunker finally overturned the try.
“The referee said he wasn’t held, so he gets up and scores a try, and then the bunker goes against him,” reflected Dragons coach Dean Young. “If he called held, we probably score on the next play, because there were no Warriors ready to defend us.
“It was a big turning point in the game and it hurts.”
The Dragons have had a miserable season, winning only twice, but Young has a solid core of veterans and promising young forwards who are slowly finding their identity. Their frustration is palpable and, after this performance, it’s hard not to feel sorry for them.
“We’re not getting rewarded for the effort we’re putting in,” skipper Damien Cook insisted. “The Warriors got a lot of stuff out here, we’re putting the effort in, we’re fighting for play-the-balls and we’re not getting the same six-agains.
“We come out of halftime, they throw a forward pass and we’re chasing points straight away, when we were in control of that game.
“It’s not right – I feel sorry for the fans that have to watch that and it’s happening too many times for us.”
“In control” is perhaps an overstatement. At halftime, the Warriors enjoyed 60 percent of possession and were completing 90 percent of their sets, although that evened out during the second half.
Still, the Warriors’ demeanour afterwards suggested they may have used their ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card on this one.
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak added to his season try tally in questionable circumstances.
Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
Here’s what we learnt from Warriors v Dragons.
Best player
Controversial try notwithstanding, Watene-Zelezniak had a fine performance in general play, throwing himself at the Dragons defensive line with ball in hand and making some key tackles on defence.
He ran for a game-high 227 metres and now has 17 tries in 16 games this season. DWZ could have had a second in this one, losing the ball as he dived for the corner.
Relegated back to the bench, with co-captains James Fisher-Harris and Mitch Barnett both on deck, front-rower Tanner Stowers-Smith had probably his best first-grade game, logging 44 minutes, but running for 155 metres and making 29 tackles for a team-high fantasy score of 54.
Fisher-Harris and Barnett both challenged 200 metres running, with the former powering to 83 metres after contact.
Best try
Towards the end of the first half, with the score at 6-6, the Warriors were playing their preferred style, exerting pressure on the Dragons defence and forcing a series of goal-line dropouts.
One of these was fielded near halfway by Harris-Tavita, who sent Fisher-Harris on a run. He linked with second-rower Kurt Capewell, who carried to the 30, before offloading to wing Alofiana Khan-Pereira near the sideline.
“The queue was there and Capey was yelling at me, so I just gave him the ball and he did his thing,” Fisher-Harris explained. “Lofi went off his left foot and was hard to catch – just comms really.”
Tanner Stowers-Smith produced probably his best first-grade performance for the Warriors.
Andrew Cornaga/Photosport
AKP stepped infield past three defenders and had too much pace for the cover, as he brought his try count to 12 from 11 games for the Warriors and 65 from 64 for his NRL career.
“I thought it was a move I didn’t know about,” coach Andrew Webster teased his skipper. “I hadn’t seen that one, but I’m glad it happened.”
Key moment
Midway through the second half, the Warriors are ahead 16-12 and attacking in the Dragons half, but as they shifted left, centre Adam Pompey was hit with a tackle as he passed, Dragons centre Mathew Feagai gathered the loose ball and sent former Warriors reserve-grader Tu racing upfield.
Tu evaded a couple of tackles, but slipped over with Tuaupiki clutching his leg. He immediately leapt back to his feet and sprinted the remaining 20 metres to the tryline to score.
Replays suggested Tuaupiki still had his hands on him when he was on the ground, essentially completing a tackle, even if he did not hold onto him.
Referee Chris Butler took an eternity to review the play and eventually disallowed the try, but allowed Tu to play the ball where he was held. The try and conversion would have put the Dragons ahead.
Instead, the Warriors survived the ensuing set and were next to score, when they benefitted from the questionable escort penalty on Holmes.
“The no-try was tough, because by the letter of the law, he had his elbow on the ground and he was touched, but I don’t think we had really effected a tackle here,” Webster conceded.
“I think I was sitting here carrying on like an idiot a couple of weeks ago, when it happened to us, so you just have to take those. I can see their frustration, but I was really happy with the way we handled the period after that.
“That was a moment when we were attacking really well, we tipped the ball, it goes on the ground and next minute, they’re running away to score. We got away with that one and we turned the screws well.”
Injuries etc
Nothing obvious came out of the Dragons clash, but the most significant injury came on Friday night, when Warriors-bound wing Will Warbrick ruptured an Achilles tendon and ended his Melbourne Storm career in a medicab.
“I just reached out to say, ‘I hope you’re well and we’re behind you’,” Webster said. “The Storm’s a professional club and they’ll put their arms around him.
“I’m sure he wanted to finish his time at the Storm – a club that has done a lot for him – on a good note and unfortunately he doesn’t get that.
“We’re still excited to have him and can’t wait for him to get here next year.”
Will Warbrick will arrive at Mt Smart next season with an Achilles injury.
Brendon Thorne/Getty Images
Warbrick will now miss the rest of the season and the Kiwis’ World Cup campaign, and will probably miss the start of next season at Mt Smart too.
Hooker Wayde Egan went off for a concussion test, after coming out of a tackle awkwardly, but returned later to ease any concerns.
Fisher-Harris was spotted on the sideline, receiving treatment to his calf – remember, he missed a few weeks with a calf strain recently – but also came back to finish the game.
After sitting last week with a hamstring niggle, Watene-Zelezniak certainly showed no ill effects.
No Warriors were placed on report, so hopefully they will have clean slate at the judiciary this week.
What the result means
After Sydney Roosters jumped ahead of them with a win over the Storm, the Warriors regained second on the ladder and maintained their points differential advantage, while making a little up on leaders Penrith.
The Panthers are going through a little skid at the moment, losing three of their last four games, so another loss could see them relying on their points-for-and-against too.
What’s next
The Warriors are back on the road again next week to take on Canterbury Bulldogs, who hover just two points outside the playoff cut, after shutting out Wests Tigers 32-0 late on Saturday.
They have had a disappointing season, with five straight losses taking the air out of their championship hopes, after reaching the semifinals last season. They have scratched and clawed their way to four wins in their last five games, and maybe the Tigers result is a sign they’re starting to hit some form.