{"id":398066,"date":"2026-04-26T05:24:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T05:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/398066\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T05:24:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T05:24:08","slug":"warriors-deny-dolphins-to-move-back-into-nrls-top-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/398066\/","title":{"rendered":"Warriors deny Dolphins to move back into NRL’s top two"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Warriors have regained their place in the NRL’s top two with a frenetic 20-18 victory over the Dolphins in a brutal Anzac Day clash in Wellington.<\/p>\n

Starved of possession and territory, the defiant Dolphins threatened to defy the odds in a rare, low-scoring second half before livewire fullback Taine Tuaupiki conjured the match winner for the Warriors on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Referee Liam Kennedy and Ashley Klein in the Bunker were perhaps the busiest men involved at Hnry Stadium, the two officials asked to decide on seemingly endless close calls.<\/p>\n

In the end, the Warriors will be thankful to escape with a fourth-straight win in the New Zealand capital, having lost their first six, to climb above Wests Tigers into second spot on points difference and behind only Penrith.<\/p>\n

Warriors dig deep in Wellington – Watch on TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n

But the victory came at a cost, with classy prop Mitch Barnett to miss next week’s clash with Parramatta after being helped off with a category-one concussion following a friendly-fire head clash with teammate Chanel Harris-Tavita.<\/p>\n

Winger Dallin Watane-Zelezniak could also be in strife after being placed on report for a hip-drop tackle on Dolphins young gun Tevita Naufahu.<\/p>\n

With 45 tries scored in the opening four games of round eight, it was no surprise the Warriors and Dolphins – traditionally two all-out attack sides anyway – produced a helter-skelter first half.<\/p>\n

They bagged three tries apiece, with the Dolphins taking an 18-14 lead to the break courtesy of a double in three minutes to prolific-scoring winger Jamayne Isaako, who also slotted all three conversions.<\/p>\n

Warriors winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira also posted a first-half brace, with Watane-Zelezniak crossing three times but denied twice by the video referee. <\/p>\n

Herbie Farnworth’s clever chip-and-regather effort cancelled out Khan-Pereira’s first strike before Isaako gave the Dolphins all the momentum heading towards halftime. <\/p>\n

After the Dolphins lost their lead in the 61st minute, Isaako missed a two-point field-goal attempt with 22 seconds left on the clock trying to force the game into golden point.<\/p>\n

Compounding their disappointment, prop Thomas Flegler was placed on report for illegally taking out Ali Leiataua in the lead-up to the Warriors’ match-winning try before centre Jake Averillo suffered a sickening compound fracture of the finger.<\/p>\n

Warriors second-rower Leka Halasima was also placed on report for a shoulder charge on Dolphins prop Tom Gilbert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Warriors have regained their place in the NRL’s top two with a frenetic 20-18 victory over the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":398067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213,3006],"class_list":["post-398066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports","tag-warriors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/398067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}