The Vodafone Warriors’ Canterbury Cup NSW team had an afternoon to forget after falling to the Western Suburbs Magpies 48-10 at Campbelltown Stadium on Sunday.
Both sides started strongly and a Patrick Herbert try on six minutes saw the visitors level the scores after leaking an early four-pointer to Watson Heleta.
But that was as close as the Vodafone Warriors got to taking the lead with the Magpies turning the screws in the latter stages of the first half to take a 26-6 ascendancy into the sheds.
After the break, it was more of the same with the Josh Reynolds-inspired hosts running in a further four tries to seal the win.
The Nathan Cayless-coached Vodafone Warriors will be looking to bounce back strongly when they head across the ditch again next week for a round three clash with the Blacktown Workers Sea Eagles.
In the earlier game, a blistering second half comeback from the Vodafone Junior Warriors resulted in a 28-28 draw with the Wests Tigers.
In their first game under the guidance of renowned footy mentor Greg Boulos, the visitors had the worst possible of starts after leaking a try to Liam Scolari in the first minute.
But it wasn’t long before the Vodafone Junior Warriors responded after Isaiah Vagana, son of club legend Joe, crossed for one of his own.
After that, it was all one-way traffic in the first half as the Tigers ran in four additional unanswered tries to take what appeared to be an unassailable 28-6 lead into the break.
Following the restart, however, it was the visitors who came out of the sheds breathing fire and within 21 minutes had levelled the scores on the back of four unanswered tries of their own.
From there, neither side was able to break the deadlock with a first-up draw a fitting result.
Canterbury Cup
Western Suburbs Magpies 48 (Watson Heleta, Bilal Maarbani, Josh Reynolds 2 tries; Joseph Ratuvakacereivalu, Sam McIntyre, Braden Robson try; Tyson Gamble 6 con) Vodafone Warriors 10 (Patrick Herbert, Setu Tu try; Chanel Harris-Tavita 1 con) HT: 26-6
Jersey Flegg
Wests Tigers 28 (Liam Scolari, Jock Madden 2 tries; Zac Cini try; Jock Madden 4 con) Vodafone Junior Warriors 28 (Brody Tamarua 2 tries; Isaiah Vagana, Casey Smith, Temple Kalepo try; Brody Tamarua 4 con) HT: 28-6.
