Stretching out to make a tackle on Cowboys\u2019 centre Tom Chester midway through the first half, Ford got up in discomfort and immediately signalled to the sideline for a replacement before running off the field.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a big blow to a player who has emerged as one of the top props in the competition through the season so far, and one the Warriors could rely on for a busy 80-minute stint if they needed it.<\/p>\n
There was also a fair bit of blood spilt on the turf at Christchurch\u2019s new showpiece, with Warriors Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and Mitchell Barnett, and Cowboys lock Reuben Cotter all opened up in a physical contest.<\/p>\n
In terms of performance, Andrew Webster\u2019s side can take plenty away from this. Makeshift winger Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad scored a first-half hat-trick \u2013 and four tries in total \u2013 in his first start on the wing since 2017. Halfback Te Maire Martin\u2019s distribution was outstanding, while Tanner Stowers-Smith, Erin Clark and Wayde Egan again stood up in the middle of the park.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo be fair, I thought we probably didn\u2019t own our moments still this week,\u201d captain Mitchell Barnett told Sky Sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought for a fair chunk of the first half we were really good, but that\u2019s what got them back into the game. I think individuals at times just getting little things wrong, but I\u2019m not making excuses for our group.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of them are blokes who are only 20-30 games into their career and we\u2019ve got to come to expect that. It\u2019s up to us leaders around them to tidy things up for them and let them learn on the run. We\u2019ve got a great group, they love learning and we\u2019re going to get better each week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Looking to shake off a slim loss to the Cronulla Sharks last week, the Warriors came out of the blocks with intent.<\/p>\n
Building plenty of pressure early paid dividends in the form of two tries to Nicoll-Klokstad within the opening 10 minutes of the match. <\/p>\n
The Cowboys fought back through the midway stages of the first half, during which Ford left the field and both Egan and fullback Taine Tuaupiki received treatment for their own concerns.<\/p>\n
But Nicoll-Klokstad getting his third after 33 minutes ensured the hosts went into the break with the lead.<\/p>\n
The Warriors\u2019 attack kept firing after the restart and enjoyed a 10-minute spell with a numerical advantage after Cowboys middle Jason Taumalolo was sin-binned for a tip tackle.<\/p>\n
Second-half tries to Nicoll-Klokstad, Watene-Zelezniak, Adam Pompey and Tuaupiki kept the lead at a comfortable margin despite the visitors fighting back through a couple of their own tries.<\/p>\n
The Warriors will now assess the toll of the win as they prepare for the in-form Dolphins in Brisbane next week.<\/p>\n
NZ Warriors 38 (Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 4, Dallin Watene-Zelezniak, Adam Pompey, Taine Tuaupiki tries; Adam Pompey 5 cons)<\/p>\n
North Queensland Cowboys 20 (Braidon Burns 2, Scott Drinkwater, Jeremiah Nanai tries; Jake Clifford 2 cons)<\/p>\n
HT: 14-10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stretching out to make a tackle on Cowboys\u2019 centre Tom Chester midway through the first half, Ford got…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[20251,1863,3013,85372,6210,1333,10933,30641,111,139,69,6102,213,61,3006,1955,118723,18457],"class_list":["post-488066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-andrew","tag-back","tag-but","tag-cowboys","tag-ford","tag-get","tag-injured","tag-jackson","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-side","tag-sports","tag-to","tag-warriors","tag-ways","tag-websters","tag-winning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488066","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=488066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}