Bottom-placed Western Suburbs stunned the high-flying One New Zealand Warriors 20-14 in tonight’s 21st-round New South Wales Cup clash at Go Media Stadium.
The Warriors came into the match sitting third on the ladder facing a Magpies side which had won just three of 19 matches.
And when the Warriors opened the scoring with a fourth-minute Sio Kali try and then added another through winger Motu Pasikala in the 23rd minute they were making the right moves.
The Magpies, though, revelled in their underdog status, frustrating the locals by slowing the game down with injury stoppages and gradually working their way into the contest.
The rewards came when they defied pre-match expectations by rattling on two tries in the space of three minutes to take a 10-8 lead into the halftime break and then immediately stretching to a 14-8 advantage in the opening minutes of the second half.
Immediately the Warriors sparked up, responding two minutes later with centre Kali’s second try, scored wide out like the previous two tries. Pasikala had the direction once again but for the third time his attempt fell short.
At 12-14 the Warriors had momentum and then levelled up at 14-14 through a Pasikala penalty after the Magpies had a player sent to the sin bin.
They couldn’t make further inroads against the gallant visitors who kept resisting and then found a way through for what would be the match-winning try scored by prop Tim Johannssen in the 74th minute.
