Warriors defenders converge on Brisbane’s Mele Hufanga.
Photo: DJ Mills/Photosport
NZ Warriors have found little answer for the highflying Brisbane Broncos, falling to their fourth straight NRLW defeat 26-6 at Hamilton.
With their playoff chances already extinguished, the Auckland-based club continued to battle, after returning to the Aussie women’s competition from a five-year hiatus, but could not finish off their chances.
Brisbane enjoyed a feast of possession and territory, and staunch goal-line defence from the Warriors kept them at bay for almost 15 minutes, before centre Shenae Ciesiolka crossed for what seemed like the opening try.
Replays showed Warriors centre Payton Takimoana was obstructed in the build-up, so the try was disallowed. Moments later, Takimoana made a trysaving tackle on Broncos winger Hayley Maddick in the corner.
Finally, after 20 minutes, Brisbane star Tamika Upton took the ball at pace and steamrolled tacklers to score between the posts.
The Warriors had their moments on attack, but could not find a way to finish their sets in the redzone.
Upton struck again from long range, taking the ball on halfway and ghosting through a gap to outpace the defence.
Brisbane had their third try, when star half Ali Brigginshaw put a kick behind the line and Warriors captain Apii Nicholls could not control the bounce, which instead fell for Shalom Sauaso in pursuit.
At halftime, the Broncos enjoyed an 18-0 lead, making eight linebreaks and 24 tacklebreaks, as they threatened to break the contest open.
The Warriors found an answer after the restart, when second-rower Shakira Baker charged hard and Ivana Lauitiiti stretched out to score under the crossbar.
They enjoyed a couple of captain’s challenges falling their way, but any chance of a comeback was set back, when centre Mele Hufanga powered over for the Broncos to restore their momentum.
Takimoana seemed to have kept her tryscoring streak alive, when she ran onto a flat pass from half Emmanita Paki, but replays detected a slight knock-on and Takimoana was referred for a concussion check.
As Warriors half Patricia Maliepo writhed in agony on the ground, Broncos counterpart Gayle Broughton glided through a gap and sent second-rower Lauren Dam away for a try. One of her team’s best all day, Maliepo limped off with what looked like a hamstring strain.
Powerful prop Harata Butler also had a try disallowed, when she was tackled on the goal-line, but reached out to score after the ‘held’ call.
The Broncos currently sit second on the NRLW table with nine wins and one loss, while the Warriors season will end next Sunday, when they visit bottom-of-the-table Wests Tigers.
Read how the game unfolded here: